‘The Baker’ cooks up five-star win over the Mariners
Rockdale Ilinden have risen to second on the NPL Men’s NSW ladder after their 3-1 Round 12 victory over the Central Coast Mariners at the Illinden Sports Centre.
Originally slated to be played at Pluim Park, the two teams’ fixture was moved due to the heavy rain in Lisarow and of course, it was Alec Urosevski who put on a show with two beautiful strikes, as well as one delicious assist.
The 2024 Premiers started the proceedings in patchy fashion with both Michael Paragalli and Jai Rose being on the receiving end of heavy tackles in the 2nd minute. However, after the initial chaos, Ilinden adjusted into their rhythm.
In the 6th minute, the hosts forged back-to-back chances as Moudi Najjar hit his header hard but off-target and then Adam Pavlesic saved brilliantly to deny a Brendan Cholakian effort as Rockdale stepped up a gear.
Three-minutes later Moudi Najjar came close to the game’s opener as his shot thumped off the outside of the left-hand post.
Rockdale eventually struck first in the 11th minute courtesy of Urosevski who scored with his initial touch, after a swiping pass from Cholakian evaded all the surrounding Mariners players.
Five minutes post their first goal, Rockdale locked in their second of the match after Urosevski’s long ball sought out Ali Auglah who dinked the ball over Adam Pavlesic and into the back of the net.
Central Coast centre-back Rocco Smith unexpectedly hit one back for the visitors in the 29th minute after the ball cannoned off several Rockdale players as he squeezed his header in giving the visitors a glimmer of hope.
Ali Auglah continuously threatened towards the end of the first half and in the 39th minute his heavy touch proved costly as it allowed Pavlesic to win the race to the ball.
The second half dumped all sorts of immediate pressure on the Mariners as Pavlesic was forced into a frantic initial stop, then Muginga Mpota made a fantastic goal-line clearance on Urosevski’s attempt.
The following moments witnessed Pavlesic make several more goal-denying double fisted saves.
Alec Urosevski continued with that sustained pressure via his 16th strike of the 2025 campaign in the 57th minute as he sweetly converted his spot kick down the middle past a falling Pavlesic. This came after a handball from Michael Paragalli in the box.
The Mariners weren’t to be knocked over however and continued their push valiantly. In the 69th minute Ben Mewett was on the precipice of the box only for his legs to be taken out and under from him by Najjar who saw yellow.
This was backed up in the 73rd minute by a blistering run down the sidelines from Luca Pecora who picked out Prayaag Thapa as he fired his close-range shot wide of the far post.
To Central Coast’s credit, they didn’t waiver and thought they had a penalty for a handball from Blake Ricciuto in the 76th minute, only for it to be overruled by the linesman.
The hosts soaked up the Mariners pressure to close the game out in style and register their third straight win in a row as they moved up as the closest rival to current league leaders and last year’s Champions, the Marconi Stallions.
Match Stats
Rockdale Illinden 3 (Alec Urosevski 11’, 57’, Ali Auglah 16’)
Central Coast Mariners 1 (Rocco Smith 29’)
Sunday 27 April 2025
Illinden Sports Centre
Referee: Logan Jones
Assistant Referees: Arinath Gobinath and Isaac Riggs
Fourth Official: Jackson Tippet
Rockdale Illinden: 1.Nicholas Sorras, 2.Hunter Elliot, 4.James Nikolovski, 5.Giorgio Speranza, 6.Isaac Danzo, 7.Alec Urosevski, 9.Moudi Najjar, 10.Brendan Cholakian, (14.Brayden Sorge 79’), 15.Ali Auglah, (17.Brae Ovens 79’), (18.Jordan Graoroski 86’), (20.Ronan Mulgrew 89’), 22.Blake Ricciuto, 88.Christoper McStay
Unused subs: 16.Michael Marcevski, 23.Oliver Puflett
Yellow cards: Moudi Najjar 69’, Alec Urosevski 72’, Hunter Elliot 81’
Red cards: None
Central Coast Mariners: 1.Adam Pavlesic, 2.Luca Pecora, 3.Michael Paragalli, 4.Rocco Smith, 5.Ben Mewett, (6.Jordan Small 57’), 8.Lucas Scicluna, (9.Ahmad Elhelou 57’), 11.Jai Rose, 13.Logan Sambrook, (17.Jesse Mantell 57’), 19.Prayaag Thapa, 21.Muginga Mpota, (23.Laurence Taylor 71’), 39.Harper Ryles
Unused subs: 22.Shuma Mutokoyi, 40.Joel Wade
Yellow cards: None
Red cards: None
Player Ratings:
3: Alec Urosevski (ROC)
2: Adam Pavlesic (CCM)
1: Ali Auglah (ROC)
-By Tobias Canning
