Ilinden rescue a point in absolute thriller with Olympic
Rockdale Ilinden denied Sydney Olympic a huge victory with only ten men as they came from behind twice to draw 2-2 at Jubilee Stadium in a Saturday night spectacular.
The visitors escaped with a well-earned draw in one of the games of the season thus far, with the result marking their fourth straight stalemate and seeing Olympic fall to three points behind Sydney United 58 in the race for sixth.
The game started perfectly for Olympic as they took the lead in the fourth minute, thanks to a headed effort from in-form winger Ryan Feutz.
The goal came after a quickly taken corner wherein Jack Armson had a one-two with Seth Clark before sending in a perfect cross towards Feutz, who then headed the ball expertly behind himself into the net.
Captain Alec Urosevski had a golden chance to equalise for the visitors in the eighth minute after being played through wonderfully by Isaac Danzo, but the typically clinical striker hit his one-on-one chance against the left post.
Urosevski again popped up with another great opportunity in the 18th minute after Giorgio Speranza found him in the box, but the forward’s strike was blocked brilliantly by Zac Zoricich.
The Blues had back-to-back efforts in the same phase of play in the 21st minute wherein Teng Kuol had a shot blocked by Danzo before skipper Adam Parkhouse had a go with a strike on his weaker right foot that was saved by keeper Ronan Mulgrew.
Rockdale eventually found their equaliser in the 28th minute in remarkable fashion, with winger Ali Auglah unleashing a beautiful curling effort from distance that sailed into the left side of the net.
The visitors threatened to take the lead themselves quickly after in the 31st minute via ex-Olympic midfielder Brendan Cholakian, though shot stopper Jack Gibson intervened to keep it level.
Olympic came out of the break hot as they created two quick chances in the 47th and 48th minute respectively, with the first seeing Cyrus Dehmie receive the ball in the box from Seth Clark and unleash a close-range shot that was blocked by Hunter Elliott.
The second was even better as Feutz had a go at bagging his second of the game only to send his shot wide of the right post.
Feutz made up for it in the 61st minute after receiving the ball from Seth Clark, with the forward cutting inside from the left side of the box and releasing an excellent, curling effort that settled into the bottom right corner.
The high of Olympic’s goal was short-lived as they suffered a major setback in the 63rd minute when Ziggy Gordon was sent off for a last-man foul on Alec Urosevski just outside the box.
Rockdale nearly made it 2-2 in the 72nd minute after a good one-two between Oliver Puflett and Urosevski put the former in a great position to score, but the ex-Blue’s strike was saved well by Gibson.
Feutz was inches away from sealing a hat-trick in the 83rd minute after an excellent bit of dribbling hat saw him dance into the box before sending off a shot that went just wide of the right post.
Ilinden responded with another golden chance in the 84th minute with chief marksman Urosevski once more called to action, though the captain again failed to convert as his strike smashed into the left post.
The visitors finally broke through again in injury time with substitute James Nikolovski scoring a 90+3rd minute header from a corner set piece to earn them a point.
Rockdale Ilinden’s Paul Dee praised the game as a thrilling, attack-oriented clash, giving credit to Olympic for their strong defensive effort while a player down as well as to his players for getting back into it.
“I thought our football was really good, especially our first half. Any time you are down it is better to get back to get a point than losing all three, but certainly we were here pushing for the win ourselves,” Dee told Football NSW.
Olympic coach Labinot Haliti described the clash as an entertaining, well-played affair between two top teams.
Speaking on his team’s performance, he noted:
“We started well and then we dropped. Then we came back in the second half and totally deserved the goal but then they are a good side too and they kept going. That is football,” Haliti told Football NSW.
He was pleased with their effort, saying:
“We have been like this all season, scoring goals and providing entertainment, that’s for sure. We have just got to keep going. The club is building. We are going forward and that is the most important thing.”
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic 2 (Ryan Feutz 4’, 61’)
Rockdale Ilinden 2 (Ali Auglah 28’, James Nikolovski 90+)
Saturday 16 August
Jubilee Stadium
Referee: Rowan Fisher
Assistant Referees: Hayden Kaye and Daniel Cornofsky
Fourth Official: James Makris
Sydney Olympic: 1. Jack Gibson, 2. James Donachie, 5. Ziggy Gordon, 9. Cyrus Dehmie (16. Bailey Callaghan 82’), 10. Jack Armson, 11. Adam Parkhouse (28. Samuel Bosnjak 66’), 12. Zac Zoricich, 14. Seth Clark, 15. Luca Pecora, 18. Teng Kuol, 19. Ryan Feutz (7. Michael Vakis 85’)
Substitutes Not Used: 6. Thomas Wiffen, 7. Michael Vakis, 13. Monty Partington, 17. Joshua Hong
Yellow Cards: Adam Parkhouse 45+3’, Teng Kuol 77’, Jack Gibson 90+6’
Red Cards: Ziggy Gordon 63’
Rockdale Ilinden: 20. Ronan Mulgrew, 2. Hunter Elliott (4. James Nikolovski 89’), 5. Giorgio Speranza (18. Jerry Skotadis 77’), 6. Isaac Danzo, 7. Alec Urosevski, 10. Brendan Cholakian, 11. Lochlan Constable (9. Moudi Najjar 77’), 14. Brayden Sorge, 22. Blake Ricciuto, 23. Oliver Puflett (88. Christopher McStay 77’), 24. Ali Auglah
Substitutes Not Used: 4. James Nikolovski, 15. Daniel-Ray Djurovic, 28. Steven Kriezis
Yellow Cards: Brendan Cholakian 11’, Ali Auglah 69’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3: Ryan Feutz (SO)
2: Brayden Sorge (RI)
1: Teng Kuol (SO)
-By Dimitri Kallos
