Sydney United 58 win thriller at Rockdale
Sydney United 58 has broken through for their first victory of the 2018 season clinging on for a thrilling 3-2 victory against the Rockdale City Suns at Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday.
Chris Payne’s 60th minute strike was the difference as United 58 fought back from two early goals to give new coach Jason Culina his first points in charge of a National Premier Leagues NSW outfit.
The visitors took the lead through new recruit Patrick Antelmi, only to trail through goals from Jordan Figon and Alec Urosevski before equalising in first-half stoppage time when Yianni Pertakis found the net.
Payne then thundered home the winner midway through the second period for United 58 as they ended their streak of back to back defeats.
It was a typical clash between Rockdale and United 58 with half-chances created at both ends before Antelmi found the opener.
His neat one-two with skipper Panny Nikas unlocked the Suns’ defence for him to fire home against Ante Covic with his right foot. It was a precision move perfectly executed.
Rockdale were not to be outdone and when the visitors squandered another opening with the ball rebounding off the post straight into the arms of Covic, Figon was allowed to use his pace to get in behind the United 58 defence
The burly striker brushed off a defender, and planted a thunderous shot beyond Thomas Manos between the sticks. Manos, incidentally, was given his opportunity to shine once more as former Western Sydney Wanderers keeper John Hall played the first two matches with Manos given the green light against the Suns.
United’s scorer Antelmi needed to be replaced on the half-hour by Naim Rahimi and while they readjusted the found themselves behind.
Figon was involved yet again when squaring the ball inside the box for Alex Urosevski to give Rockdale the lead.
Rockdale thought they were going to take the advantage into the break but Sydney United 58 had other ideas with Perkatis firing home an absolute stunner in added time to ensure the scores were level at the interval.
United 58 came started the second stanza in impressive for and had the first real chance after the restart
Mathew Sim’s effort in the 58th minute was deflected out for a corner after spinning in the box to fire goalward.
But it wasn’t long before United regained the lead when Payne netted on the hour to restore the visitor’s lead as the rain teemed down.
Alemeddine nearly found parity for the home side when turning in the box to unleash a left-footer that Manos did well to hold on to. He was unlucky again four minutes later, this time with his right foot that Manos beat away.
It got worse for the Suns when substitute Alex Canak, on the pitch for barely seven minutes, was shown a straight Red Card for a silly off-the-ball incident involving United 58 defender Adrian Vlastelica that was well spotted by the assistant referee on the near touchline.
Sim should have capped off the win and ensured the points in the final minute after doing the hard work inside the box but saw his effort trickle wide of the upright.
Sydney United 58 coach Jason Culina was a relieved man after the match
“This was far from our best performance. I felt we actually played better in our first two matches and had nothing to show for it,” he said.
“Football is a funny game and you think when you play well you should win but to be honest this was our worst performance so far and we pick up the points.
“We were sloppy and we know this is not our normal standard. We went behind but they dug in there and and pulled it back before the break.
“With Rockdale chasing the game we should have perhaps scored another. We’ve got our first points on the board for the season so we’ll move on from here.”
Paul Reid cut a forlorn figure at the final whistle.
“You play against a good team and they punish you for momentary lapses in concentration,” Reid said.
“Everyone knows they are a good football team and at this level they will punish you even though we scored two good goals ourselves.
“When we sit down to think about this match it’s the lapses that have cost us at least a point if not all three. We need to be switched on for the full 90 minutes and today we were not and we’ve paid the price. We’ve got to be better than that.
“To be a successful footballer you need to be switched on from start to finish, there are no lull periods during the game. And when you don’t concentrate you get punished. It’s a lesson our guys need to learn quickly.”
Match Stats
Rockdale City Suns: 2 (Figon 25’, Urosevski 34’)
Sydney United 58: 3 (Antelmi 20’, Pertakis 45+2’, Payne 60’)
Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Sunday, 25th March 2018
Referee: Michael Weiner
Assistants: Janush Adabjou & Kearney Robinson
4th Official: Craig Fisher
Rockdale City Suns: 1.Ante Covic, 2.Daniel Petkovski, 3.Steven Hesketh, 4.Trent McClenehan, 6.Blake Riccutio (8.Alex Canak 76), 7.Alec Urosevski, 10.Harris Gaitatzis, 12.Idriss El Hafiane, 14.Brayden Sorge, 17.Toufic Alamaddine (9.Antoniou Bai 71’), 23.Jordan Figon (21.Michael Neill 71)
Substitutes not used: 19.Patrick Savor, 22.Nicholas Sorras
Yellow Cards: Ricuitto 65’
Red Cards: Canak 82’
Sydney United 58: 21.Thomas Manos, 4.Adrian Vlastelica, 5.Anthony Tomelic, 6.Christopher Payne (20.Petar Markovic 89’), 8.Mathew Sim, 9.Patrick Antelmi (7.Naim Rahimi 31’), 11.Yianni Pertakis, 12.Shannon Cole, 15.Tomoki Menda (3.Jordan Roberts 58’), 18.Glen Trifiro, 23.Panni Nikas
Substitutes not used: 1.John Hall,17.Sam Perre
Yellow Cards: Chris Payne 65’, Cole 73’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Trent McClenahan (RCS)
2 – Chris Payne (SU58)
1 – Jordan Figon (RCS)
– By National Premier Leagues reporter Micky Brock
