Manly and Ilinden play out entertaining draw
Manly United and Rockdale Ilinden shared the points in a 1-1 draw at Cromer Park on Saturday night in an exciting battle as both teams gave it their all in round 5 of the National Premier Leagues Men’s NSW competition.
Miguel Bauza put the hosts in front early on before ‘The Baker’, Alec Urosevski squared things up heading into halftime.
Both teams toiled for a second-half winner, but they could not find it, having to settle for a point each.
Rockdale sought to dominate their opponents early on, with some persistent pressing that kept Manly pinned back into their half.
The side conjured up an opportunity seven minutes in.
Hunter Elliot mazed his way down right before getting in a cross that came out to Isaac Danzo, who fired over.
Manly broke through the visitors’ press 12 minutes in and took the lead.
Harry McCarthy worked the ball out to the right, where a cutback found Bauza at the near post who prodded into the roof of the net.
Ilinden responded six minutes later with a quickfire double-chance.
A left-sided delivery met Jason Cakovski at the back post, but his powerful header was superbly tipped onto the crossbar by fast-reacting Manly goalkeeper Levi Kaye.
The ball was recycled and put back into the middle from the right, where Kaye held Daniel Collins’ low shot.
Kaye was called into action again 21 minutes in when he had to palm Bai Antoniou’s effort from the edge of the box onto the right post.
United did not hold out Rockdale for much longer as Urosevski managed to squeeze a narrow-angled shot from the left of the box near the by-line past Kaye and into the far corner.
The hosts almost re-established their lead less than a minute later when Alen Aganovic got on the end of a right-sided corner, but Harrison Devenish-Mears repelled his downward header.
Rockdale took the ball down the other end in the 31st minute with Dean Pelekanos’ first-time strike batted over the bar by Kaye.
The away side nearly went into front 43 minutes as Antoniou tried to sneak a right-sided free-kick past Kaye’s near post, however, it went just wide.
Manly then attempted to snatch the lead ahead of halftime themselves with Peter Kekeris swerving an effort barely past the left post.
A thrilling first half concluded with the scores level at 1-1.
Manly had the first major chance of the second period as McCarthy played a well-weighted pass out to the right for Kekeris in behind, but the forward shot over from a tight angle.
In the 64th minute, Rockdale ventured forward through Antoniou whose header from a cross from the right bounced just wide of the left post.
United had a chance a couple of minutes later when Bauza rolled a left-footed strike past the left post.
The match had a tense finish as both sides looked to snatch a late winner at Cromer Park.
It did not fall for either team though as they remained unable to be separated.
Manly coach Patrick Zwaanswijk felt his team did enough to win the game but acknowledged the side were not clinical enough.
“We definitely could have got more, but if you don’t score it’s a fair result,” he said.
“I thought it was a great game to watch. Both teams wanted to play.
“In the end, we’ll take a point but I think it’s two points lost.”
Rockdale coach Paul Dee was pleased with how his team responded to going behind in the match and echoed Zwaanswijk’s comments that it was a spectacle.
“It was an entertaining game,” Dee said.
“Manly were quite resolute in defence.
“I felt we did enough to create chances to win the game but converting those chances is the most important thing.
“We did well to get a goal back, but Levi [Kaye] had a really good game. We kept trying to get forward to get the winner but probably rushed it a little bit in the end.”
Match Stats
Manly United FC 1 (Miguel Bauza 12’)
Rockdale Ilinden FC 1 (Alec Urosevski 28’)
Saturday 9 March 2024
Cromer Park, Cromer
Referee: Stephen Lucas
Assistant Referees: Alexis Johnson and Lindsay Edmonds
Fourth Official: Mitchell Renton
Manly United FC: 1. Levi Kaye, 2. Kieren Paull (11. Connor Rose 65’), 3. Zac Sfiligoi, 4. Jesse Piriz (16. Zayne Ahluwalia 88’), 6. Saxon Hillyer (8. Joseph Fox 88’), 7. Peter Kekeris (9. Benjamin Koop 65’) 10. Harry McCarthy, 12. Miguel Bauza (39. Stefano Rossello 82’), 19. Alen Aganovic, 27. Corey Cronin, 45. Bilal Belkadi
Substitutes Not Used: 41. Montgomery Partington
Yellow Cards: Alen Aganovic 42’, Miguel Bauza 58’, Peter Kekeris 63’, Saxon Hillyer 70’, Jesse Piriz 86’
Red Cards: Nil
Rockdale Ilinden FC: 1. Harrison Devenish-Mears, 2. Daniel Collins, 3. Lachlan Griffiths, 5. Giorgio Speranza, 6. Isaac Danzo, 7. Alec Urosevski, 8. Dean Pelekanos (11. Lochlan Constable 75’), 9. Bai Antoniou (66. Mathieu Cordier 68’), 10. Brendan Cholakian (17. Brae Ovens 90’), 19. Jason Cakovski (16. So Kataoka 75’), 23. Hunter Elliott (14. Brayden Sorge 75’)
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Ricardo Rizzo
Yellow Cards: Dean Pelekanos 73’, Brendan Cholakian 88’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Levi Kaye (MU)
2 – Miguel Bauza (MU)
1 – Alec Urosevski (RI)
Report by Timothy Gibson on Twitter, @Timg123_
