Ilinden and Rangers share the spoils in entertaining draw
Mt Druitt Town Rangers were seconds away from registering a sensational maiden win of their 2022 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s campaign, but Rockdale Ilinden’s Jaden Casella struck in stoppage time in Sunday’s 2-2 thriller at Ilinden.
The three points were snatched away from the Mt Druitt outfit when substitute Casella breezed past the visitors’ tiring rearguard and finished coolly – the final of four high-quality goals in an enthralling contest.
Rangers entered the contest with the league’s most vulnerable defensive record having conceded 14 in their opening four, and after Chris McStay’s superb opener – an unstoppable curling effort into the top left corner – it looked as though a hiding might have been in store for Stewart Montgomery’s men.
Mt Druitt lived dangerously and were saved by the woodwork twice, including an incredible flying save from Robert Fanella, who pushed Tomoki Wada’s long-range effort onto the bar.
Although the Rockdale chances kept flowing, the floodgates did not open despite the efforts of Alec Urosevski, Bai Antoniou and star Japanese import Tomoki Wada.
Having not taken advantage of their chances, Rockdale were caught on the back foot in the second half and custodian David Bradasevic was required to make a fine double save to keep out Stewart’s daisy-cutter and the rebound from Rangers substitute Olayinka Sunmola.
The lively Stewart equalised for the visitors with a great solo effort, powering into the box and finding the far corner, and five minutes later Louis Khoury sent Rangers into dreamland by crowning a fantastic piece of patient possession play with a fabulous finish.
Rapturous celebrations from the Mt Druitt bench ensued, but Rockdale produced a gut-wrenching equaliser when Casella pounced on some tired defending and secured a share of the points in stoppage time.
“People watching that today should be afraid of Mt Druitt,” said Montgomery post-match.
“We weren’t good in the first 15 minutes, but in the second half we completely outplayed them.
“It’s disappointing to concede the late equaliser but we’re at a building stage, we’ve lost an awful amount of experience in the squad and we’re trying to find ways to replace that. There’s nothing wrong with the team spirit though.”
Meanwhile, Rockdale boss Steve Zoric lamented a missed opportunity.
“It’s frustrating, we knew they were going to come at us after half time. It should have been sowed up, we should have wrapped it up,” he said.
“We need to be more clinical in front of goal.”
Match Stats
Rockdale City Suns 2 (McStay 3’, Casella 90’)
Mt Druitt Town Rangers 2 (Stewart 82’, Khoury 87’)
Sunday, 3rd March 2022
Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Referee: Craig Fisher
Assistant Referees: Matthew Staples and Isabella Mossin
Fourth Official: Hadi Al-Nakeeb
Rockdale City Suns: 1. David Bradasevic, 2. Daniel Petkovski, 3. Lachlan Griffiths (5. William Mutch 52’), 4. Mitchell Stamatellis, 7. Alec Urosevski, 9. Bai Antoniou (23. Jaden Casella 72’), 10. Tomoki Wada, 11. Peter Kekeris (25. Alex Masciovecchio 64’), 88. Chris McStay (16. Mohamed Ahmed 72’), 14. Brayden Sorge, 19. Patrick Savor
Substitutes Not Used: 31. Ryan James (GK), 39. Jason Cakovski
Yellow Cards: N/A
Red Cards: N/A
Mt Druitt Town Rangers: 4. Travis Oughtred, 6. Louis Khoury (3. Andre Tchuda 90’), 7. Jack Stewart, 8. Jason Perez, 9. John Roberts (13. Jorge Tavares 74’), 10. Diogo Barbosa (18. Olayinka Sunmola 45’), 11. Fumoto Kamada, 12. Jake Trajkovski, , 17. Cooper Coskerie, 27. Tarek Elrich, 20. Robert Fanella
Substitutes Not Used: 19. Bul Garang Juach, 1. Matthew Symes
Yellow Cards: N/A
Red Cards: N/A
Player Ratings
3 – Louis Khoury (MTR)
2 – Robert Fanella (MTR)
1 – Tomoki Wada (RSC)
-By Jacob Windon
