Wanderers run riot in 5-star Rockdale display
It was supposed to be a celebratory day for Rockdale Ilinden who recognised its legends from past years, the young Western Sydney Wanderers however had other ideas as they ruined the party smashing the hosts 5-0 in a dominant display at the Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday.
In what was also a first match without their coach Panny Nikas who took up the vacant coaching position at Bankstown City FC, the Wanderers set the tone early, with Oscar Morrison heading home a Tristan Arrate free kick in the third minute.
The biggest moment of the match came in the 43rd minute, as Hunter Elliott was shown a straight red card after bringing down Awan Lual as the last defender.
The visitors continued their impressive opening half with a second goal moments before the break, with Lachlan Sattout setting up Alaat Abdul-Rahman for an easy finish.
Western Sydney continued to dominate the game in the second half, grabbing three more goals to round out the convincing win.
Arrate capped off his brilliant afternoon with a second-half brace, whilst Harper Ryles came off the bench to net the Red and Black’s fourth, while also setting up the fifth.
Rockdale wasted no time, coming out of the blocks firing and creating two dangerous chances in the opening minute of play.
After dealing with both threats, Western Sydney flipped the script on their opponents within a matter of minutes.
From a set-piece, Arrate perfectly teed it up for Morrison, who had stolen a yard on his marker and powered his header into the net to open the scoring.
Tristan Vidackovic was called into action not too long after, denying a piercing half-volley from Isaac Danzo.
On the other end, Western Sydney continued to use their youthful and pacey attack to their advantage.
Abdul-Rahman came close to doubling the lead, his fierce effort taking a deflection before Levi Kaye got down sharply to turn it away.
Rockdale had arguably their best chance of the half, narrowly missing the target as Moudi Najjar’s close-range free kick whistled over the woodwork.
Just as the game seemed to be finding its rhythm, a moment of recklessness from Hunter Elliott changed everything.
The Rockdale defender brought down Awan Lual as the last man, leaving the referee with no other option but a red card.
Western Sydney doubled the lead on the stroke of halftime as Sattout played a perfect ball across goal for Abdul-Rahman to tap it into an open net.
It was much of the same for Western Sydney in the second half, finding a third goal on the hour mark.
After having his initial effort saved by Kaye, Lual regathered possession and cut it back into the danger area where Abdul-Rahman laid it off for Arrate to finish into a near-open net.
Rockdale looked to answer back immediately and did find the back of the net through Lachlan Griffiths, only for the goal to be ruled out for an infringement on Vidackovic in the build-up.
It went from bad to worse for the hosts, with Ryles making an immediate impact off the Wanderers’ bench.
Just four minutes after coming on, Ryles drove forward with purpose through the middle of the park before picking out the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Ryles continued to make his impact felt on the game, setting up Arrate for his second in the 82nd minute.
As the full-time whistle blew, it was a comprehensive 5-0 win to Western Sydney – a result that never looked in doubt as the game progressed.
Wanderers coach Luca Andreacchio credited his side’s character and patience throughout the game for the massive result.
“The win was a team win. We knew this game was going to be extremely difficult and the team showed great character to spend time and suffer without the ball but still come out with the result,” he said.
“I’m super proud of the group today. We always prepare to put on our best performance. If the process is good, we hope that the outcome is good. This week the process was good and the outcome happened to be good.”
Meanwhile, Rockdale coach Paul Dee didn’t shy away from his true feelings about the side’s disappointing loss.
“It’s an unacceptable performance. I know we went a man down, but we need to show a lot more resilience than what we did,” he said.
“It’s not reflective of how we want to be.”
Match Stats
Rockdale Ilinden FC 0
Western Sydney Wanderers FC 5 (Morrison 3’, Abdul-Rahman 45+2’, Arrate 60’, 82’, Ryles 72’)
Sunday 24 May, 2025
Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre
Referee: Mujtaba Ebrahimi
Assistant Referees: Amirhossein Hosnani and Patrick Pike
Fourth Official: Oliver Udovicic
Rockdale Ilinden FC: 1. Levi Kaye, 2. Hunter Elliott, 3. Lachlan Griffiths, 4. Reo Kunimoto, 5. Giorgio Speranza (15. Stefan Simonoski 82’), 6. Isaac Danzo, 7. Ollie Wiggin (8. Jerry Skotadis 61’), 9. Moudi Najjar (19. Dean Jovcevski 82’), 10 Brendan Cholakian, 11. Lochlan Constable (16. Michael Marcevski 61’), 22. Harry McCarthy (17. Mohammed Adam 45’)
Substitutes Not Used: 24. Evangelos Kalamvokis, 41. Hudson Beddow
Yellow Cards: Cholakian 65’, Skotadis 84’, Danzo 88’
Red Cards: Elliott 43’
Western Sydney Wanderers: 1. Tristan Vidackovic, 4. Ricky Fransen, 5. Jesse Cameron, 6. Oscar Morrison, 7. Alaat Abdul-Rahman (20. Harper Ryles 67’), 8. Julian Cop, 9. Awan Lual (23. Oscar Moore 76’), 16. Tristan Arrate (10. Johnny Pavlovic 76’), 17. Joshua Cetinic, 26. Bradley Marszal, 27. Lachlan Sattout.
Substitutes Not Used: 12. Samuel Goldberg, 18. Thomas Cutuk, 22. Lachlan Henderson, 29. Marco Radovancevic
Yellow Cards: Henderson 86’
Red Cards: None
Player Ratings
3 – Tristan Arrate (WSW)
2 – Julian Cop (WSW)
1 – Joshua Cetinic (WSW)
By NPL NSW Men’s reporter Dominic Criniti, @DominicCriniti
