Ilinden secure valuable three points in tough encounter
It was a battle but Rockdale Ilinden took all the spoils in the local derby victory against the Sutherland Sharks as the hosts won the match 3-2 at the Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday.
Rockdale’s main man Alec Urosevski got the party started with his first of two goals before Pat O’Shea levelled just after the half an hour mark.
Mitch Stamatellis restored parity for the home side with a long range bomb before Lachlan Everett bagged an equaliser.
Urosevski however had the last laugh as his second goal of the match all but sealed the victory and his spot as the league’s leading scorer after nineteen matches.
Just in time for kick-off, the heavens opened producing driving rain into the faces of the Sharks players making life difficult for the visitors especially playing into the wind also.
On cue Urosevski opened the scoring when Rockdale beat the offside trap in the ninth minute. It was good play from Jaiden Casella who was offside but left the ball for Urosevski to delicately curl the ball into the net for the opener and restore his position as the league’s joint top scorer alongside Sydney FC’s Jaiden Kucharski on 18.
Everett fired in an out-swinging corner met by the head of Michael Neill only to flash wide of the upright in reply but a Casella free-kick at the other end nearly snuck through the defence leaving Anthony Bouzanis unsighted but able to adjust and make the late save.
Nick Sullivan worked an opening for himself but a last ditch block from Nikola Kuleski forced the corner. Again it was an Everett out-swinger with the ball eventually falling to Sharks’ skipper O’Shea to bury his first of the season as he restored parity in the 33rd minute.
Parity lasted barely three minutes when a long range Stamatellis thunderbolt found its way through a packed defence to nestle in the back of the net as the defender notched up his first for the 2022 NPL NSW Men’s season in style.
It was a typical local derby game with some bruising tackling yet surprisingly open in terms of opportunities but with no further scoring it was the home side who hit the half-time break in front 2-1.
Urosevski came close to adding a third after the break, but from an acute angle the ball bobbled across the face with no-one able to find a finishing touch, but it was an encouraging sign from the home side wanting to put the match to bed.
The quick reactions of Casella stole the ball in midfield and immediately played Urosevski, but his effort this time wasn’t up to scratch and Bouzanis was able to complete the save.
Sutherland adopted a much more attacking approach from the start and their quick counter-attacking was causing Rockdale problems at the back however, the backline was able to comfortably deal with the threat posed and often broke up play before an attempt on goal materialised.
That was until Everett latched onto a loose ball to squirm a shot under the body of Ilinden ‘keeper David Bradasevic to level the tie once more in the 73’ minute.
Once more it didn’t remain that way for too long when Peter Kekeris made a darting run down the left and centred for Urosevski to net his 19th goal of the season and restore Rockdale’s lead to 3-2.
A nasty injury to Daniel Araujo just before stoppage time when he went face first into the pitch and suffered a concussion saw Rockdale’s utility man receive treatment on the field but an immediate substitution when replaced by Jamie Percevski. A sorry sight for the home fans but an added twist in the unfolding drama.
It was a long added time sequence at the end of the match but Rockdale prevailed to net a valuable three points leaving coach Steve Zoric to state.
“I wasn’t happy with our second-half performance when we lost a bit of shape, particularly in midfield and we made it tougher on ourselves than perhaps we should have.
“First-half I was pleased with and we should have wrapped it up, but I’m proud of the effort from the boys today and we’ll keep going strongly in our final few games.
“It was a tough three points to win but we did and it keeps us in the hunt.”
Steve Gordon, Sharks’ coach, rued another missed opportunity at grabbing something from the match.
“It was just another of those moments,” he said.
“We were disappointed with the first goal which we thought was offside but we fired up after that.
“We know Rockdale are an aggressive side but we started to match them which we had to do and came back to score a great goal.
“We got it back to 2-all and were all over them but we got caught on the break again and conceded a third.
“We’ve got APIA on Wednesday night and we’ll be just as competitive and fight for everything between now until the end of the 2022 campaign.”
Match Stats
Rockdale Ilinden 3 (Alex Urosevski 9’,78’, Mitch Stamatellis 35’)
Sutherland Sharks 2 (Pat O’Shea 33’, Lachlan Everett 73’)
Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Sunday 10th July 2022
Referee: Ivica Covic
Assistants: Joon Park and Logan Jones
Fourth Official: Melik Ibrahim
Rockdale Ilinden: 1. David Bradasevic, 2. Daniel Petkovski, 4. Mitchell Stamatellis, 5. Will Mutch, 6. Daniel Araujo (15. James Percevski 90+2), 7. Alec Urosevski, 8. Nikola Kuleski, 10. Tomoki Wada (9. Bai Antoniou 54’), 11. Peter Kekeris, 23. Jaden Casella (25. Alex Mascioveccio 90+6), 88. Chris McStay
Subs not used: 14. Brayden Sorge, 19. Patrick Savor, 31. Matthew Murram,
Yellow Cards: Nikola Kuleski 85’
Red Cards: Nil
Sutherland Sharks: 1. Anthony Bouzanis, 2. James Baldacchino, 3. Evan Ball (14. Chris Lindsay 58’), 6. Patrick O’Shea, 9. Jeremy Cox, 10. Lachlan Everett (25. Luke Sauer 86’), 12. Lukman Ahmed-Shaibu (18. Mitch Smith 68’), 17. James Andrew, 21. Michael Neill (99. Lachlan MacDonald 67’), 22. Nick Sullivan, 23. Mark Rodic
Subs not used: 26. Jacob Cremen-Cowan, 35. Marcus Russo
Yellow Cards: Lachlan Everett 42’
Red Cards: Nil
By NPL NSW Men’s Reporter Micky Brock
