APIA hoodoo holds against gallant Rockdale
APIA Leichhardt took a massive step in putting some distance between their nearest National Premier League NSW Men’s Premiership rivals Rockdale Ilinden following a gritty 2-1 victory at the Ilinden Sports Centre in what was a superb top of the table clash played on Sunday.
APIA defender Anthony Sparacino got the visitors off to an ideal start as he headed APIA into the lead after nine minutes before the NPL NSW Men’s top goalscorer Alec Urosevski levelled the tie prior to half-time from the spot.
Jack Armson then stole the headlines as he continued his great 2023 form with a well taken goal six minutes from time that gave APIA a valuable away victory.
Ilinden had a lot to prove after the drubbing they received at the hands of APIA way back in round 2 and were ready for the battle in a fiercely contested football match.
One notable figure was Ilinden’s French star Loic Puyo who returned for one final match before jetting back to his native country, a like for like swap as Brendan Cholakian was serving his one match suspension.
The first chance fell to APIA in the second minute as an enticing Armson free-kick from the right-wing went across the face of goal that no APIA attacker was able to reach as Franco Parisi’s men signalled their intent early on.
Bai Antoniou then cut in from the left in reply and delivered a sumptuous cross into the box that narrowly evaded Urosevski and Jaden Casella, but APIA broke quickly and from a rapidly taken corner, it was Sparacino who gave the visitors the lead, heading the ball, unmarked inside the box and it was 1-0 to APIA.
Isaac Danzo whistled one over the bar from 25-yards out that had Necevski scrambling in the 24th minute that was millimetres away from levelling the game.
Rory Jordan, on another speedy break and beating the offside trap, forced young keeper Ricardo Rizzo into a fine full length save midway through the half.
Urosevski was then pulled back inside the box in the 31st minute resulting in a penalty which he took himself in wrong-footing Necevski and netted the equaliser, his 17th of the season.
And it could have been a reversal when Urosevski was sent away down the right and centred for Antoniou only for desperate defending, abetted by a slight deflection, took the ball away from the Ilinden striker from almost under the bar.
It was to be the final highlight of the match as both teams went into the sheds with the match evenly poised at 1-1.
APIA got the second-half underway and Diego Celis brought another fine save out of Rizzo who was having a great match under the sticks for the hosts.
Armson then fired wide of the upright, thanks to a timely deflection off Danzo as the visitors looked to press home their early advantage in a similar start to the first half.
Will Mutch was introduced for Antoniou as Paul Dee made the first change of the match in an effort to switch the point of attack in bringing on fresh legs as it was now Ilinden’s turn to soak up the pressure and hit on the break.
Urosevski played in Puyo who set up Mutch, however his shot flashed wide of the woodwork that had it gone in, would have been a definite ‘goal of the season’ contender.
Ben Wass was brought off the bench for Rockdale to make his senior debut while Ilinden’s other youngster Zach Nikolovski, who made his debut last week, was also brought on as Dee wanted to preserve some of his players for their crucial Round 7 Australia Cup clash against Inter Lions next Wednesday.
Careless and somewhat reckless defending at the back invited APIA on but fortunately went unpunished for the home side who were slowly starting to defend deeper as the visitors pressed upfield in search of the winner.
And it was the visitors who hit the front when Armson netted in the 84th minute from the edge of the area after fashioning an opening and firing through a sea of legs beating the unsighted Rizzo and creeping in at the base of the keepers right-hand post.
A flurry of substitutions ensued from both sides with Rockdale desperate to break the APIA hoodoo and garner at least a point from the game to no avail as the visitors secured the points.
APIA coach Franco Parisi was proud of his chargers who set out a target in leaving with the three points at Rockdale.
“We came for the three points today and we’re leaving with them,” he said.
“It was a typical top of the table clash and credit to Rockdale who gave us a tough match but thankfully we attained the goals we set ourselves for today.
“In the last few years perhaps there’s been talk of the ‘hoodoo’ we have over Rockdale but we as a squad don’t buy into that, and our aim is purely winning games regardless of the opposition.
“Anyone who knows this league knows it’s about transitional moments and today you saw two sides who are very good at it and, as I’ve said, we got the points today that we came for against a very good and difficult Rockdale outfit.
“The players know there is no Grand Final to play for this season, no single match where they can perhaps put in the effort as this year it’s first past the post and they know they have to put in every week if they want to be successful and this team and club want that so credit to Rockdale, but we look to next week now.”
Rockdale coach Paul Dee lamented on what was a tough match where they could have settled for a point.
“It was a tough game today, but we didn’t expect anything different against a side leading the competition,” he said.
“We were guilty, especially near the end of the match, where we were perhaps a little too eager to get the points and the space in between our lines became greater and we made it hard for ourselves to get out of defence.
“That said, this is predominantly a young team, and we can only learn against a top team like APIA and although we are disappointed in the result, there were a lot of positives we can take from the match.”
Both teams will be in midweek action as APIA Leichhardt take on Sydney Olympic at Lambert Park and Rockdale Ilinden face Inter Lions at Majors Bay Reserve in Round 7 of the Australia Cup.
The winners from these matches will progress to the round of 32 with both games being shown live and exclusive on NPL.TV.
Match Stats
Rockdale Ilinden 1 (Alec Urosevski 32’pen)
APIA Leichhardt FC 2 (Anthony Sparacino 9’, Jack Armson 84’)
Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Sunday 28th May, 2023
Referee: Craig Fisher
Assistants: Cameron Wright and Aaron Bloch
Fourth: Hadi Al-Nakeeb
Rockdale Ilinden: 20. Ricardo Rizzo, 4. Nikola Ujder, 6. Nikola Kuleski, 7. Alec Urosevski, 8. Isaac Danzo (34. Jason Cakovski 87’), 9. Bai Antoniou (5. Will Mutch 56’), 11. Lochie Constable, 14. Brayden Sorge, 17. Loic Puyo (Ben Wass 65’), 23. Jaden Casella (41. Maddox Barthou87’), 66. Mathieu Cordier (29. Zach Nikolovski 66’)
Subs not used: 26. Steven Kriezis
Yellow Cards: Nikola Kuleski 13’
Red Cards: Nil
APIA Leichhardt: 1. Ivan Necevski, 6. Anthony Sparacino, 8. Diego Celis (7. Jack Stewart 65’), 14. Jack Armson, 15. Themba Muata-Marlow, 16. Sean Symons (25. Aedon Kyra 85’), 17. Rory Jordan (30. Alex Denmeade 85’), 18. Adrian Ucchino, 19. Fabian Monge, 21. Michael Kouta, 38. Yianni Nicolaou
Subs not used: 3. Paul Galimi, 4. Joshua Symons, 42. Sebastian La Luz
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Jack Armson (AL)
2 – Ricardo Rizzo (RI)
1 – Anthony Sparacino (AL)
By NPL NSW Men’s Reporter Micky Brock
