Rockdale and United 58 Share Points in Six Goal Thriller
Rockdale Ilinden and Sydney United 58 shared points in a desperate and rugged contest that finished in a 3-3 draw at Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre.
The eagerly-anticipated match saw first-half goals from Tariq Maia and Chris Payne before another scintillating Jaden Casella strike and Alec Urosevski leveller restored parity.
United 58 thought they had finally put the game to bed when Kyle Cimenti found the net before a stoppage time equaliser from Will Mutch earned Rockdale a valuable point.
The opening moments set the tone for the match with strong tackles being the order of the day with Peter Kekeris testing Daniel Nizic in the 3rd minute for the home side.
The resultant corner fell to Alec Urosevski, who attempted a deft lob that settled on the roof of the net.
Tariq Maia replied pulling a smart reaction save out of David Bradasevic at the other end in an all action spell of football with Nizic again called upon to keep the game scoreless.
United 58 were able to break through the middle and another attempted lob over Bradasevic slipped narrowly past the woodwork.
The visitors took the lead in the 10th minute when Maia got in the end of a cross to side-foot home after Jamie Percevski was caught in possession inside the area.
Urosevski was sent through, but under close attention inside the box his two attempts saw the ball trickle past the upright as Rockdale looked to square the ledger – all before the 15 minute mark was reached.
Jordan Roberts broke down the right and pulled the ball back for Maia on the edge of the area and his shot brought another tremendous save from Bradasevic with chances regularly falling at both ends.
Further efforts fell to Taisei Kaneko and Matthew Bilic respectively, but were comfortably dealt with as the visitors pushed hard to press home their advantage.
United 58 were susceptible to the pacey counter attacks of Rockdale that, to date, had been blunted by the resolute defence of the visitors with Danijel Nizic presenting a one-man wall against Rockdale was having a stupendous first-half.
United 58 doubled the lead in the 43rd minute when Payne was found lurking at the back stick to fire home and although Bradasevic managed to claw the ball back into play, the ball was adjudged to have crossed the line.
It was a deserved lead at the break despite the goals coming from two defensive lapses, but with the visitors dominant and in control it would take something special for Rockdale in the second stanza to glean anything from the match.
There were no changes at the restart and almost immediately Nizic was forced to save once again from Urosevski with the second effort cleared off a crowded line.
It was Jaden Casella who produced yet another ‘goal of the season’ contender in the 50th minute with a curling left-footed effort from outside the area.
The ball bounced over the line from the beautifully-placed shot off the angle of the framework to halve the deficit, prompting an already pulsating match to another level.
Nizic was forced into a double save, the second from Kekeris as the Casella goal spurred on the home side.
Bradasevic then kept Patrick Antelmi out with the game remaining remarkably open with both defences stretched.
It was thrilling, thoroughly entertaining football for the neutral but the frenetic pace couldn’t be sustained and forays forward became more measured.
It was a long punt forward that found Urosevski in space, with the striker able to plant the ball under the body of the United 58 ‘keeper and level the scores in the 78th minute.
Substitute Kyle Cimenti thought he had sealed the points for Sydney United 58 in the 86th minute, when a delightful through ball from Maia saw him latch onto the pass and slide it home under Bradasevic.
Will Mutch managed to save the day for Rockdale in the 2nd minute of stoppage time as he found the net to level the game leaving both coaches with plenty to say at the final whistle.
“Look, I’m proud of the boys,” Rockdale coach Steve Zoric stated.
“We showed a lot of ticker and started playing as we had before.
“We have a never say die attitude and are getting back into games as we have done in the last few weeks and we had to do it the hard way again today.
“I’m a bit disappointed that we gave away a couple of soft goals, which we seem to do every week and it puts us on the back foot each game.
“But I’m happy with the movement of the side overall and if we can stop giving away those silly goals I think we’ll be fine but a hard fought point today, as we knew it would be, so we can take heart from that and move on.”
United 58 coach Miro Vlastelica was somewhat reflective when commenting: “the game should have been over in the first 45’ minutes.”
“We squandered a number of good chances and should have gone to the break at least four or five up but when you don’t take your chances that’s what happens.
“We had good possession in the first half but dropped off a bit after the break, but we knew we would be in for a hard game as Rockdale don’t stop and keep coming at you until the end and in the end they punished us.
“We are still in two Cups and we need to manage the squad and today we brought on a player (Devante Clut) who had just come back from injury and we had to substitute him shortly after when he felt something, as a precaution but again we had the chances but didn’t take them and we certainly feel it’s two points dropped today and not one won.”
Match Stats
Rockdale Ilinden 3 (Jaden Casella 50’, Alec Urosevski 78’, Will Mutch 90+2’)
Sydney United 58 3 (Tariq Maia 10’, Chris Payne 43’, Kyle Cimenti 86’)
Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Sunday 26th June 2022
Referee: Craig Fisher
Assistants: Lance Greenshields and Joon Park
Fourth Official: Ivica Covic
Rockdale Ilinden: 1. David Bradasevic, 2. Daniel Petkovski, 5. Will Mutch, 6. Daniel Araujo, 7. Alec Urosevski, 10. Tomoki Wada, 11. Peter Kekeris (9. Bai Antoniou 77’), 14. Brayden Sorge (8. Nikola Kuleski 48’), 15. James Percevski, 23. Jaden Casella, 88. Chris McStay (16. Mo Ahmed 67’)
Substitutes Not Used: 17. Vince Fedele, 25. Alex Mascioveccio, 31. Matthew Marrum
Yellow Cards: Will Mutch 90+2
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney United 58: 1. Daniel Nizic, 3. Jordan Roberts, 4. Adrian Vlastelica, 5. Anthony Tomelic, 6. Chris Payne, 7. Taisei Kaneko, 9. Patrick Antelmi (8. Kyle Cimenti 62’), 15. Tariq Maia, 17. Matthew Bilic, 18. Glen Trifiro, 36. Adrian Knez (10. Devante Clut 53’) (22. Bailey Callaghan 85’)
Substitutes Not Used: 11. Nicholas Zdrilic, 13. Jordan Ivancic, 55. Goran Palecek
Yellow Cards: Anthony Tomelic 90+2
Red Cards: Nil
By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s Reporter Micky Brock
