Ilinden grabs first victory for 2022 over APIA
In their first home game of the season, Rockdale Ilinden secured their first win of the season in a 2-1 victory over APIA Leichhardt on Sunday afternoon at Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre.
Goals to Rockdale’s Brayden Sorge and Jaden Casella proved enough to overpower one goal to APIA Leichhardt’s Jack Armson and saw the home side secure a valuable three points from the encounter.
With perfect weather for the match, home fans were pleased with the victory and will be hoping that the trajectory is clear for the season after a loss, draw and now a win.
The visitors experienced their first loss of the season after a tight turnaround from a huge 5-3 victory over Mt Druitt on Wednesday night.
The early chances of the encounter belonged to APIA Leichhardt and in the first minute it was Walter Scott who had a shot from outside the box that was well saved by David Bradasevic.
The visitors followed up in the 9th minute with a Jason Romero free kick that was well saved by the home ‘keeper who punched away.
The game meandered for a while without either side really creating much until the 29th minute when Adrian Ucchino fired a rocket from outside the box that Bradasevic managed to hold onto.
Rockdale Ilinden’s first real chance arrived shortly afterwards when a nice diagonal attempt by Alec Urosevski was saved by a diving Ivan Necevski.
The home side opened the scoring in the 40th minute when an accurate corner found Sorge at the near post and his delightful header ended up in the back of the net.
It was a goal almost against the run of play, but one that gave the home side’s fans a lot to cheer about as the half time interval fast approached.
In the second stanza of play the first chance worth noting fell to Rockdale Ilinden and it was their second goal, which arrived in the 66th minute of play.
Tomoki Wada fired from outside the box and Necevski could only parry the hot attempt but Casella, jogging on the spot from close range, hammered it home.
A few minutes later Rockdale should really have had their third when a majestic cross from the left by Urosevski reached Wada in the middle, but his header only just went over the crossbar as the visitors breathed a sigh of relief.
In the 71st minute Urosevski received a long floating ball and he then dazzled his way through some APIA defenders before firing just wide of the intended target.
In the 74th minute APIA got one goal back when Romero reached the by-line and, with an inch-perfect cross, found an unmarked Armson who simply headed home.
It was a soft goal to concede and almost appeared to arrive in slow motion for the visitors.
In the 82nd minute a cross by Simon Nicholas was pushed away by Bradasevic but only as far as Yianni Nicolaou who fired from just outside the box and missed the intended target by a whisker.
Well into stoppage time APIA almost equalised when a rocket from Romero was spectacularly cleared off the line by a Wada header as the home fans’ heart almost sank at the thought.
After the encounter Rockdale Ilinden’s coach Steve Zoric explained he was very pleased to secure all three points at home in their first win of the season.
“It was a tough win and they started off pushing us,” he said.
“We had to wait our time a bit and work to our game plan.
“We came out firing in the second half and we were unlucky not to get a third goal after we scored our second, but we kept our shape really well and defended really well.
“We got a bit tired towards the end and we allowed them back into the game, but it was good to get our first win and on home turf too.”
APIA’s stand-in coach John Calleja said that overall, his team played well and with a bit of luck may have had some more out of the game
“Today was a tough game as they are a good side” he said.
“We were a bit disappointed that we conceded a soft goal before halftime from a corner kick play, but I think we played well and showed a lot of courage.
“The team tried really hard but we probably dropped off a bit in intensity early in the second half and they then got their second goal which made it a difficult hill to climb.
“However, the boys really put in a great effort and have played three games in a week and for them to show that kind of spirit really is a good sign.”
Match Stats
Rockdale Ilinden 2 (Sorge 40’, Casella 66’)
APIA Leichhardt 1 (Armson 74’)
Sunday, 20th March, 2022
Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Referee: Hassan Jomaa
Assistant Referees: Cameron Wright and Nick Vermaat
Fourth Official: Mujtaba Ebrahimi
Rockdale Ilinden: 1. David Bradasevic, 3. Lachie Griffiths, 4. Mitchell Stamatellis, 5. Will Mutch, 6. Daniel Araujo (19. Patrick Savor 42’), 7. Alec Urosevksi, 10. Tomoki Wada, 11. Peter Kekeris (9. Bai Antoniou 67’), 14. Brayden Sorge, 23. Jaden Casella (25. Alex Masciovecchio 76’), 88. Chris McStay
Substitutes Not Used: 20, Matthew Marrum, 2. Daniel Petkovski, 16. Mo Ahmed
Yellow Cards: Sorge 93’
Red Card: Nil
APIA Leichhardt: 1. Ivan Necevski, 3. Paul Galimi (38. Yianni Nicolaou 36’), 4. Josh Symons, 5. Nicholas Azzone, 6. Simon Nicholas, 9. Jason Romero, 14. Jack Armson, 18. Adrian Ucchino, 20. Nathanael Blair (35. Dylon Susovic 67’), 21. Michael Kouta, 23. Walter Scott (10. Franco Parisi 50’)
Substitutes Not Used: 22. Luke Turnbull, 2. Gian Fiorese, 15. Themba Muata Marlow
Yellow Cards: Nicholas 43’, Ucchino 61’, Nicolaou 80’
Red Card: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Alec Urosevski (RI)
2 – Jason Romero (AL)
1 – Brayden Sorge (RI)
By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo
