Saliadarre shuts out Suns as Rangers pounce at Rockdale

A superb performance from Mount Druitt Town Rangers goalkeeper Carlos Saliadarre has helped his side to their maiden National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s victory as they defeated Rockdale City Suns 2-0 at Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday. 

Saliadarre pulled off countless saves to keep his side in the tie after Jordan Gomez netted from the spot and a stoppage time winner from Cooper Coskerie secured the points.

It was all Rockdale for much of the match and if it wasn’t for the display of the visiting glove man they would surely have secured the points.

The result was Rockdale’s second straight home defeat in as many games and their second straight match without a goal.

It’s sure to have coach Paul Reid concerned moving forward.

Rockdale raced out of the blocks and showed their intent in the third minute when Michael Neill drilled in a cross from the left flank.

However, it was the visiting Rangers who took the lead when Gomez netted from the spot, sending David Bradasevic the wrong way, much against the run of play.

Five minutes later saw the start of the Saliadarre show.

The veteran keeper, when seeing an Alec Urosevski free-kick late, got down to his right to turn it around the upright.

He tipped another around the opposite upright shortly after but the best was yet to come.

Jordan Figon sent a bullet header toward goal and at point-blank range it was Salidarre who again reacted to palm the effort away.

Urosevski was causing havoc on the left with the Rangers defence finding difficulty in containing the lively winger who fired across the face of goal from an acute angle.

Coskerie retaliated with a shot straight at Bradasevic in an all too infrequent attempt on goal for the visitors  but as it was they his the half-time break hanging on the slenderest of leads.

Figon was released down the right on the resumption and once more Saliadarre was up to the task and able to beat it out only for Matthew Lecce to fire over from the rebound.

Daniel Petkovski came close with a header at the back stick from a beautifully flighted Urosevski corner and still Rockdale could find no way to restore parity.

They thought they had in the 79th minute when a Lecce overhead kick beat Saliadarre, for the first time in the match, only to see the ball bounce down off the crossbar before being bundled away to safety.

The home side threw everything at Mt Druitt bar the kitchen sink and it wasn’t until stoppage time the game was finally put to rest. Gomez played a wonderful back-heel pass to allow Coskerie a free run on goal and he made no mistake this time when planting it firmly between the sticks.

It was a smash and grab raid by the visitors that left Suns’ coach Paul Reid to comment.

“We dominated the game,” he said.

“But like last week we couldn’t put it away and if you don’t score goals you don’t win games.

“I cannot fault the effort of the players but that’s three times in four the opposition keeper has been Man of the Match.

“We have to be more clinical in front of goal and with the amount of chances we’re creating we should be putting more away.

“It is frustrating and obviously this can happen in football but we have to be more diligent in the final third and stop giving away silly possession.”

“In tight situations, big players step up,” replied Town coach Aiden Desmond before continuing.

“Carlos (Saliadarre) certainly did that for us today. He was outstanding.

“We knew we would have to dig in for the second-half as they would push numbers forward and believed we could grab one on the break.

“We did manage that and whether it was in 46′ or 90′ minute we knew if we could hold them at bay we were obviously in with a shout.

“We have a lot of speed in the team so were able to turn defence into attack quickly and we needed to today but we’ve secured the points and we’re delighted with the result.”

Match Stats

Rockdale City Suns 0

Mt Druitt Town Rangers 2 (Gomez 12p, Coskerie 90+1)

Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale

Sunday, 31st March 2019

Referee: Craig Fisher

Assistant Referees: Janush Adabjou & Jack Bell

Fourth Official: Sebastian Andrews

Rockdale City Suns: 1.David Bradasevic, 2.Daniel Petkovski, 3.Michael Neill (20.Howard Fondyke 82′), 7.Alec Urosevski, 10.Joshua Da Silva (Khang Hoon Cho 65′), 12.Idriss El Hafiane , 14.Brayden Sorge, 15.Nicholas Petrillo, 17.Matthew Lecce, 18.Sasa Macura (9.Jonathan Grozdanovski 77′), 45.Jordan Figon

Substitutes Not Used: 19.Patrick Savor, 22.Max Rowston

Yellow Cards:  Sorge 55′, El Hafiane 58′

Red Cards:

Mt Druitt Town Rangers: 1.Carlos Saliadarre, 5.Jake Mamone (27.Giuliano Airoldi 90+1′), 6.Blake Thompson, 7.Luke Clifford, 8.Mathew Clowes, 9.Alex Boyadjian (23.Adrian Vranic 70′), 12.Nick Trimble, 13.Lord Darkoh, 14.Felipe Zapata (18.Solomon Moahan-Vaiika 90+4′), 15.Cooper Coskerie, 17.Jordan Gomez

Substitutes Not Used: 21.Mathew Nikolovski

Yellow Cards: Gomez 35′

Red Cards:  

Player Ratings

3 – Saliadarre (MDTR)

2 – Coskerie (MDTR)

1 – Urosevski (RCS)

-By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Micky Brock