Rockdale dominate ten-man Olympic
Rockdale Ilinden recorded a convincing 3-1 victory against rivals Sydney Olympic at the Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday to keep their Premiership hopes alive as the Blues slumped to their ninth loss of the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s campaign.
The feisty derby lived up to its expectations as Olympic were reduced to ten-men right on half-time following the dismissal of Matthew Buettner for two cautions.
The hosts took charge of the match early as Alec Urosevski scored a follow up upon missing his spot-kick before Bai Antoniou and Isaac Danzo pushed Ilinden to their twelfth win of the season with Oliver Puflett scoring a late consolation for the visitors.
Prior to kick-off, an impeccably observed minute silence was held in honour of the late and great Rale Rasic, a pioneer of Australian Football who shaped the game in this country for a generation, passed away earlier this week.
The early running was made by Rockdale who menaced the Olympic defence during the opening stages without creating a clear-cut opportunity.
Olympic could have taken the lead in the 13th minute when Adam Parkhouse curled a delicious in-swinging free-kick into the box that Ricardo Rizzo knew little about in a crowded area that was somehow scrambled clear.
It was the hosts however that took the lead via Urosevski.
The current Golden Boot leader saw his penalty saved by Olympic keeper Nicholas Sorras but the rebound fell kindly to the ace marksman as he smashed home his 18th goal of the season.
Rockdale, after taking the lead, were a little more cautious in their approach and sat a little deeper to blunt the Olympic forays forward but Roy O’Donovon was the second visiting player in the book, joining Matthew Buettner, after colliding heavily with Ilinden’s ‘keeper Rizzo.
To add to the drama, Buettner received a second caution in the 44th minute for a foul on Mathieu Cordier and was sent from the field as Olympic had to play the remainder of the match with ten men.
It was the last meaningful action of the half as Rockdale hit the sheds one goal to the good.
Adam Parkhouse was sacrificed after the interval to be replaced by Fabio Ferreira as Olympic strove to salvage something from the match but could easily have fallen further behind but for a terrific stop by Sorras from Urosevski.
But the visitors did concede a second moments later through Antoniou in the 48th minute. The attacker scrambled the ball over the line and the game continued to swing in the favour of the hosts.
Two became three in the 54th minute when Isaac Danzo pounced on the loose ball, after Sorras again saved from Urosevski, to net a rare goal for the midfielder.
Sydney Olympic rang in the changes bringing on Oliver Puflett and Nick Fitzgerald but they were damage limitation substitutions although they continued to keep their attacking style under the circumstances.
Jaden Casella brought yet another fine save out of Sorras after an hour but increasingly the visitors were being pushed further back into their territory by an enthused and buoyant Rockdale side.
Olympic battled hard on a day when Rockdale were dominant from the start despite their man advantage and controlled the majority of the match affording them the opportunity to give some game time to a number of fringe players in the latter stages.
Puflett netted a consolation goal in the 86th minute but it was too steep a mountain to climb leaving coach Labinot Haliti, bitterly disappointed at the final whistle and not wishing to comment.
Ilinden coach Paul Dee was delighted with the result as this kept his side in the Premiership hunt alongside APIA Leichhardt and Marconi.
“Overall our attitude was good today and we played a fairly fast game with plenty of intensity,” he said.
“We came out strongly and were desperately seeking all three points and it was good that the goals were shared around a bit and not reliant on one or two outlets.
“We always try to get a number of different scoring options in every game and today that happened in attacking areas and it’s always good to see different names on the scoresheet.
“I think overall, even to the point of the send-off, we had a decent amount of control over the game and it didn’t help Olympic’s cause when that happened, but I felt that during the game we were pretty much in control despite that,” he concluded.
Match Stats
Rockdale Ilinden 3 (Alec Urosevski 16’p, Bai Antoniou 48’, Isaac Danzo 54’)
Sydney Olympic 1 (Oliver Pufflet 86’)
Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Sunday 11th June, 2023
Referee: Sam Kelly
Assistants: Arinath Gobinath and Amirhossein Hosnani
Fourth: Hadi Al-Nakeeb
Rockdale Ilinden: 20. Ricardo Rizzo, 4. Nikola Ujder, 7. Alec Urosevski, 8. Isaac Danzo, 9. Bai Antoniou, 10. Brendan Cholakian (42. Ben Wass 72’),11. Lochie Constable (29. Zach Nikolovski 72’14. Brayden Sorge, 15. Jamie Percevski, 23. Jaden Casella (5. Will Mutch 72’), 66. Mathieu Cordier
Subs not used: 22. Dev Barron, 28. Emilio Vinci, 41. Fenn Hogden-Yu
Yellow Cards: Brendan Cholakian 42’, Zach Nikolovski 87’
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 1.Nicholas Sorras, 2. Peter Politis, 3. Mickey Neill, 5. Ziggy Gordon, 6. Jack Simmons (29. John Fitzgerald 55’), 8. Sam McIllhatton, 10. Darcey Burgess (Oliver Puflett 55’), 11. Adam Parkhouse (22. Fabio Ferreira 46’), 12. Matthew Buettner, 23. Jakob Cresnar, 99. Roy O’Donovan
Subs not used: 14. Michael Vakis, 20. Chris Parsons, 24. Christopher Gligor
Yellow Cards: Matthew Buettner 34’, Roy O’Donovon 37’
Red Cards: Matthew Buettner 44’ (2xY)
Player Ratings
3 – Bai Antoniou (RI)
2 – Alec Urosevski (RI)
1 – Isaac Danzo (RI)
By NPL NSW Men’s Reporter Micky Brock
