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Bulls undone by late Urosevski penalty

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A late Alec Urosevski penalty has helped Rockdale Ilinden snatch a late 1-0 victory against Northbridge Bulls FC who earlier had a missed their spot-kick at Sydney United Sports Centre on Saturday night.

It was a contest in which chances had to be earned, and Rockdale Ilinden FC was able to make their one count.

Urosevski was the hero yet again for Rockdale, finding the back of the net from the penalty spot with only five minutes left on the clock.

The result was a reality check for the Bulls, who were without the magic they displayed in their dominant 5-1 win against Sydney United 58 in round six.

Moudi Najjar had a spot-kick saved in the first half, while Michael Ruhs and Stephan De Robillard were unable to put the side ahead throughout the game before conceding in dying stages.

Rockdale had a fast start to the contest, with Urosevski firing straight at the keeper.

Next, Tomoki Wade stung the hands of Northbridge Bulls custodian Ryan Wood with a pair of efforts that were collected. Urosevski was again in the thick of the action when he cut inside before shooting wide of the post.

Northbridge Bulls started to find their rhythm and were gifted the opportunity to open the scoring from the spot due to a handball. Moudi Najjar stepped up to take the spot-kick, but it was saved well by Rockdale shot-stopper David Bradasevic.

The home side dominated the rest of the first half. The combination between Michael Ruhs and Najjar created some sublime chances. Ruhs strode into the box twice but placed both efforts right at Bradasevic as the teams went into the sheds locked at 0-0.

Coming out of the break, both sides looked to find an opening to break open the contest. The battle in the midfield continued to be ferocious, with no time to waste for any attackers looking forward.

The best chances for Rockdale continued to fall to the feet of striker Urosevski. Twice he found space inside the box, but his finishing touch deserted him as the ball was claimed easily by Northbridge keeper Ryan Wood.

Stephan De Robillard was busy across the whole 90 minutes. The midfielder almost found himself with the opener before it was denied by the woodwork. The game started to crack wide open a touch as the teams searched for a winner.

It was Rockdale coach Steve Zoric who turned to his bench first to change the contest. Zac Sfiligoi entered the game and dipped a shot wide of the post. Moments later, he thrashed one that almost burst through Wood’s gloves.

Time ticked into the final ten minutes, both teams trying to find the winner. In a tight game, Rockdale’s opener came from the spot. A handball gave Urosevski a chance from the penalty spot. The striker slammed the ball into the bottom corner taking his goalscoring tally to six for the season.

Rockdale Ilinden FC was able to hold onto the three points despite some late pressure from Northbridge Bulls. That result makes it back-to-back wins for them, with a visit to Sutherland Sharks next up for them.

Talking post-match, Northbridge Bulls coach Mile Sterjovski thought his side matched it well against last year’s Grand Finalists.

“It was a good performance from both sides. We came up against a team that made the Grand Final last year, and we limited them well. They showed they are a quality team. It wasn’t our night tonight.” Sterjovski said.

Rockdale Illinden FC’s Steve Zoric was happy to take three points tonight and make it back-to-back victories for his side

“It was a tough game. They [Northbridge Bulls] are a mobile side, especially in transition. That is what cost us the penalty in the first half. We thought as long as we kept the game locked up, we could find a winner.” said Zoric.

“The most important part of the back-to-back wins is getting two clean sheets. I thought David [Bradasevic] was outstanding on the penalty save. He was like a leopard getting to the ball and kept the ball out.”

Match Stats

Northbridge Bulls FC 0

 Rockdale Ilinden FC 1 (Urosevski ‘85)

Saturday 10th April 2021

Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park

Referee: K. Patterson

Assistant Referees: C. Wright & L. Webb

Fourth Official: D. Alter

Northbridge Bulls: 1. WOOD Ryan, 3. THEPH Theph, 4. UDJUR Nikola, 6. SEPPING Lachlan (16. JOVANOVSKI ‘82), 10. JORDAN Rory, 11. DE ROBBILLARD Stephan (18. BONILLA ‘82), 13. SCOTT Walter, 15. CASPERS Edward, 17. NICOLAOU Yianni (8. EVE ‘45) 24. NAJJAR Moudi, 26. RUHS Michael (2. MCLOUGHLIN ‘45)

Substitutes not used: 14. PANNUCIO Giovanni, 40. BARRY Griffin

Yellow cards: Scott

Red cards: nil

Rockdale Ilinden: 1. BRADASEVIC David, 3. NEILL Michael, 4. STAMATELLIS Michael, 5. KANAIZUMI Bani, 7. UROSEVSKI Alec, 8. WADA Tomoki, 9. ANTONIOU Bai, 10. GAUTHIER Marie (13. SFILIGOI ‘73), 18. GULISANO Samuel, 19. SAVOUR Patrick, 23. CIMENTI Kyle (11. TANESKI ‘89)

Substitutes not used: 22. DI BlASIO Andrew, 24. ANEVSKI Jayden, 45. NIKOLOVSKI James

Yellow cards: Stamatellis

Red cards: nil

Player Ratings

3: Alec Urosevski (RCK)

2: Stephan De Robillard (NB)

1: David Bradasevic (RCK)

By National Premier Leagues NSW reporter Justin Davies (@JustDavies90)

Rockdale Ilinden return to winning ways

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Rockdale Ilinden FC have returned to winning ways with a 2-0 victory over APIA Leichhardt on Sunday afternoon at Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre.

It was a hard-fought battle between the two teams but first-half goals to Tomoki Wada and Kyle Cimenti were unanswered by a hapless APIA side, who struggled to find momentum after recording their first win of the season over Sutherland in a midweek clash.

Both teams kicked off the match with key personnel missing with the hosts having skipper Daniel Petkovski out while the visitors had Josh Symons absent due to sickness.

It was an action-packed opening to the match, with Rockdale coming in hot from the opening whistle.

Bai Antoniou set up a great goal-scoring opportunity for Urosevski after just two minutes, but his strike was rejected by APIA custodian Ivan Necevski, who pulled off a great save to deny the home side.

Antoniou was back at it just moments later, setting up Wada for the opening goal.

After receiving the ball from Antoniou, Wada drew Necevski out before chipping the ball over him and into the netting.

Michael Neill sent a shot to Antoniou in a prime position in front of goal in the 31st minute, however Antoniou couldn’t manage to get a foot to the end of the cross.

Urosevski’s dangerous forward run in the 35th minute paid dividends for the home side after a well-timed pass to Cimenti resulted in a strike that brushed the hands of Necevski and double the lead for Rockdale. It was the young gun’s fifth of the season.

APIA found themselves with an opportunity to get on the scoreboard in the 77th minute from a free kick but Gian Fiorese’s effort was palmed off by Bradasevic and cleared by Wada.

Samuel Gulisano looked poised to take the home side to a three-goal victory in the 85th minute, but his powerful strike flew over the crossbar.

Rockdale coach Steve Zoric was pleased his team were back to winning ways after their Round 5 loss to Blacktown.

“The last few weeks I thought we were rushing it and resorting to long balls at times which is not us,” he explained.

“Hopefully we keep on going and keep our principles.

“The chemistry has been building for the last 18-19 months…it’s a family so that’s how we are.”

APIA coach Paul Dee was proud of the effort his side put in after a high-intensity workload.

“I felt for the guys because it was the end of a very long week and I think it was evident that we had some tired bodies out there but they still kept trying to their credit,” he said.

“Overall it was not the result that we wanted but we just have to look to next week and try and improve on it.

“I think you saw on Wednesday the guys worked extremely hard and were really committed until the end of the game and kept going for the victory so that’s the sort of spirit that we want to see.

“If they keep delivering that every week and we can keep adding to our playing style hopefully you’ll see us improve match by match.”

Match Stats

Rockdale Ilinden FC 2 (Tomoki Wada 2’, Kyle Cimenti 35’)

APIA Leichhardt FC 0 

Sunday 4th April, 2021

Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre

Referee: M. Bailey

Assistant Referees: S. Quinn and D. Alter

Fourth Official: M. Ibrahim

Rockdale Ilinden FC: 1. David Bradasevic, 3. Michael Neill (10. Marie Gauthier), 5. Banri Kanaizumi, 7. Alec Urosevski, 8. Tomoki Wada, 9. Bai Antoniou (13. Zac Sfiligoi), 14. Brayden Sorge, 15. Mitchell Stamatellis, 18. Samuel Gulisano, 19. Patrick Savor, 23. Kyle Cimenti

Substitutes Not Used: 11. Nikola Taneski, 22. Andrew Di Blasio, 24. Jayden Anevski, 38. Jad Moussa

Yellow Cards: Alec Urosevski 60’, Mitchell Stamatellis 75’, Samuel Gulisano 90’

Red Cards: Nil

APIA Leichhardt : 1. Ivan Necevski, 2. William Mutch, 3. Paul Galimi (21. Michael Kouta), 6. Harry Callahan, 8. Corey Biczo, 9. Blake Powell (7. Tynan Diaz), 11. Matthieu Cordier, 16. Sean Symons, 18. Adrian Ucchino, 20. Sam Mcilhatton (10. Franco Parisi), 23. Gian Fiorese

Substitutes Not Used: 5. Nicholas Azzone, 22. Luke Turnbull, 26. Vincent Fedele

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

Player Ratings

3 – Alec Urosevski (Rockdale)

2 – Mitchell Stamatellis (Rockdale)

1 – Tomoki Wada (Rockdale)

By National Premier Leagues NSW Reporter Madeline Riley (@madelineriley23)

 

Blacktown City run rampant over Rockdale Ilinden

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A trio of second-half goals has helped Blacktown City FC stun potential Premiership candidates Rockdale Ilinden FC 4-1 at Lily Homes Stadium on Sunday to once again assert themselves as a ‘dark horse’ in this season’s NPL NSW Men’s Title Challenge.

It was a sensational return to form for Blacktown with the win breaking a two-game losing streak.

Rockdale took an early lead but the home side found a spark from a Matthew Lewis moment of magic to make it 1-1 at the break.

City turned it on after the break with goals to Mario Shabow, Carlos De Oliveira and Travis Major to ensure a well-earned win.

Bright sunshine welcome both sides to Lily Homes Stadium for this contest. Rockdale Ilinden FC got off to a good start with Alec Urosevski having a chance in the opening 60 seconds which went wide.

Grant Lynch tried to spark the Blacktown City FC side in return. The veteran weaved through the defence before he laid the pass to Suleyman Bangura whose effort was soft.

Much of the positive work for Rockdale in the first half came through Urosevski and Mitchell Stamatellis. Both men combined for the opener. Stamatellis passed it wide for Urosevski to float one in off the crossbar for 1-nil.

Again those two operated in tandem in the 18th minute. Stamatellis threaded through a precise ball for the striker whose prodded effort thumped against the post and away. Rockdale aimed to build on their early lead.

Blacktown City FC found their way back into the contest through a moment of Lewis moment. The captain took a fabulous touch then thrashed the ball into the bottom corner to make it 1-1.

That goal woke the Blacktown City FC side up inside the final 15 minutes. Mario Shabow, Travis Major and Bangura had chances to put the home side in front. They were unable to find the net and the game headed to half-time level.

Coming out of the break, both sides were much cagier in their approach. Chances were few and far between.

Blacktown City FC held the ball but were unable to find their way past Rockdale shot-stopper David Bradasevic.

Rockdale looked to find a chance on the break. A furious break ended up with substitute Marie Gauthier ghosted into the box but he slid his effort wide of the post.

Blacktown City FC found some joy as the clock ticked into the final 15 minutes. Travis Major rose highest to thump his header against the bar. The rebound fell to the feet of Mario Shabow who slotted home for 2-1.

Not content to sit on their lead, Blacktown City FC continued to push forward and found a third goal. Substitute Carlos De Oliveira found the back of the net to bring the crowd at Lily Homes to their feet at 3-1.

Blacktown City FC put the icing on the cake in stoppage time.

Fan favourite Travis Major with some nice work inside the box and finished past a despairing Bradasevic to make it 4-1.

Speaking afterwards victorious Blacktown City FC coach Mark Crittenden was delighted that the side’s effort has turned into a result tonight:

“We’ve been happy with how we have played the last few weeks and finally got a result. It was a funny first half then we dug deep and got a big result against a good side,” said Crittenden.

“I was confident going into the game. I don’t think we’ve played poorly just haven’t been able to find the back of the net. We did that today and I am quite happy.” he finished.

For Rockdale Ilinden coach Steve Zoric he was disappointed his side weren’t able to find the extra gear against Blacktown City as the 2020 Premiers were brought back down to earth by the hosts.

“It was upsetting and disappointing. We started well [with the goal] and let them into the contest,” Zoric said.

“They were eager and out enthused us tonight. It seemed like whatever changes we made weren’t working today.

“Now it’s back to the training field to work on the small things which cost us.

Match Stats

Blacktown City FC 4 (Lewis ‘30, Shabow ‘75, De Oliveira ‘77, Major ‘90+1)

Rockdale Ilinden FC 1 (Urosevski ‘8)

Sunday 28 th March 2021

Lily Homes Stadium, Seven Hills

Referee: T. Danaskos

Assistant Referees: C. Wright & M. Allum

Fourth Official: M. Ebrahimi

Blacktown City FC: 1. PRENDERGAST Tristan, 3. COLLINS Daniel, 4. CAMPBELL Lachlan, 5. LYNCH Grant, 6. LEWIS Matthew, 7. MAJOR Travis, 8. O’BRIEN Jak (22. DE OLIVEIRA ‘60), 10. SHABOW Mario (24. BANDIERA ‘82), 11. DESILVA Rhett, 18. BANGURA Suleyman (40. HERNANDEZ ‘85), 19. BERRY Adam

Substitutes not used: 17. ASKEW Dakota, 20. NISKI Dylan

Yellow cards: O’Brien, Collins

Red cards: nil

Rockdale Ilinden FC: 1. BRADASEVIC David, 2. PETKOVSKI Daniel, 3. NEILL Michael (11. TANESKI ‘78), 5. KANAIZUMI Banri, 7. UROSEVSKI Alec, 8. WADA Tomoki, 9. ANTONIOU Bai (18. GULISANO ‘57), 14. SORGE Brayden, 15. STAMATELLIS Mitchell, 19. SAVOUR Patrick (10. GAUTHIER ‘71), 23. CIMENTI Kyle

Substitutes not used: 13. SFILIGOI Zac, 22. DI BLASIO Andrew

Yellow cards: Urosevski

Red cards: nil

Player Ratings

3 – Mario Shabow (BCFC)

2 – Suleyman Bangura (BCFC)

1 – Alec Urosevski (RCK)

By National Premier Leagues NSW reporter Justin Davies (@JustDavies90)

Cimenti on path to success at Rockdale Ilinden

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Kyle Cimenti appears to have found his home at Rockdale Ilinden FC with four goals in as many matches to start the 2021 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s season.

Reigning Premiers Rockdale Ilinden are reaping the benefits of their form striker in Cimenti who has begun the 2021 NPL NSW Men’s season in the best way possible.

Four games into the season and he has already bagged a brace against Wollongong Wolves before getting on the scoresheet against Marconi Stallions and most recently snatching a point for his side against Manly United.

He believes that his efficiency in front of goal has boiled down to the collective effort of his hardworking teammates.

“I’ve got a great team. We have got a lot of guys around who are talented and there’s a great camaraderie. It makes it a lot easier for me to do my job when I’ve got such great guys providing me with all the scoring chances,” Cimenti said.

Cimenti’s path to Rockdale may not be as straightforward as many would think with the ex-Western Sydney Wanderers front man arriving at his current club via a spell overseas.

“I trained and played some first grade games there [Wanderers] before moving to Croatia when I was 19. I moved there on my own and went to a third division club to start off,” he said.

“After a few months there I was doing really well, and I signed a professional deal with a second division club.”

His rise up the footballing pyramid seemed to be taking shape until COVID-19 swept through the globe and forced him to put his European adventure on hold.

“I came back here [Sydney] and kind of just needed to play. I had the opportunity to get some games and play with Rockdale.”

“I’m trying to get myself back to the professional game.”

The cutthroat nature of European football provided him with several life lessons that many young footballers today are not exposed to unless they take that leap of faith by moving abroad at such a young age.

“You had to learn really quick. Mentally you were just there and kind of isolated. It was a good learning experience for me to mature and do things for myself,” he said.

“It helped me grow in not just football but overall, as a person.”

As someone who committed to making the life-changing move, he has some valuable insight to pass on to the next generation of young Aussie footballers.

“The first couple of months, you’re an outsider. A lot of these guys are locals, and you must earn your way. If you stay true to who you are, you play and you work hard and you start showing what you can do and why you’re there in the first place.

That will earn you more and more respect from the boys and it makes it a lot easier for you to live there because then you don’t necessarily feel like you’re doing it on your own.”

His return to Australia at around this time last year did not arrive at the most opportune time with A-League clubs having already settled their squads so it led to the striker turning to local NPL clubs.

“The coaching staff at Rockdale knew me when I was younger at Sydney United. Once I spoke to them, they were great with me. I felt like that was the greatest bit, having coaches that back me.”

“It was always going to be a good move for me to get game time in a good environment.”

Cimenti will be leading the line for Rockdale when they visit Blacktown City on Sunday with kick off set for 3pm at Lily Homes Stadium.

-By NPL NSW Men’s Reporter Samuel Greco Schwartz (Twitter handle: @SamuelGS97)

Manly earn hard fought point at Rockdale

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Manly United proved to the rest of the competition that they won’t be a pushover side as they fiercely battled for a point in their 1-1 draw against Rockdale Ilinden at the Ilinden Sports on what was a dark and dreary Sunday afternoon.

Manly United attacker Dejan Pandurevic was gifted the opening goal for Manly in the 34th minute after a decent spell of sustained pressure when his shot squirmed under the body of David Bradasevic.

The lead was short lived however when Kyle Cimenti thundered home to restore parity four minutes later – these stood as the only goals of what was an action packed match.

Given the tough conditions, it was a high octane and polished encounter and an almost perfect start for the hosts as Alec Urosevski hit the upright inside the opening minute after good build up play from Bai Antoniou down the right flank saw him link up with Brayden Sorge and Wada, as an in form Ilinden went straight about their task against a rapidly improving Manly United side.

Manly soon replied with a long ball over the top for Japanese star import Sieya Kambayashi to smash a volley that Bradasevic did well to hold onto in the greasy conditions in what was a lively opening fifteen minutes.

Both sides looked sharp despite the slippery conditions early on, but last week’s hero for Manly Daniel Fabrizio, succumbed to an early injury and was replaced by Luka Kmet who did his bit to keep the visitors in the match.

It was Manly who put the ball in the net after 34th minutes when Pandurevic fired toward the Rockdale net much to the disapproval of the home fans that braved the rainy conditions.

Cimenti then equalised almost immediately thanks to some great build up work from Urosevski in the 38th minute. It was his fourth of the 2021 campaign.

Urosevski almost put the home side in the lead soon after as he rounded Benton only to have his shot cleared off the line by three rushing Manly United defenders as Steve Zoric’s men continued to pile on the pressure.

Pandurevic once again came to life in the dying stages of the first-half as he fired another effort across the face of the goal after breaking down the right once more as Adam Griffiths’ squad could’ve really taken a 2-1 lead at the break.

Rockdale continued to go hard in the second half with a succession of crosses into the box however the Manly defence stood firm to beat away the danger on countless occasions although Antoniou came close with a header that slipped narrowly wide and Urosevski had Benton saving at full stretch to keep the ball away from Cimenti following in.

Manly weathered the storm and slowly began to exert their football on Ilinden as the minutes ticked as they created several half-chances, mainly with the ball over the top, to utilise their pacey attack, without working Bradasevic.

Mitchell Stamatellis worked Manly keeper Sam Benton from a clever Tomoki Wada free-kick midway through the second-half but the follow up was adjudged offside and the threat dissipated as, expectedly, the home side threw everything at the Northern Beaches side in the final quarter-hour.

Rockdale skipper Daniel Petkovski then thrashed a shot into the side netting once more on the counter and Banri Kanazumi headed narrowly wide from a free-kick as the home side went in search of the lead but were careful not to over commit and leave themselves exposed at the back.

Substitute Sam Gulisano brought the best out of Benton once more. The Manly custodian, who has made the number 1 jersey his replacing Dylan Mitchell, saved Gulisano’s swirling shot in style.

“As I said to the boys, it’s a bit upsetting we didn’t get all three points today,” said Ilinden coach Steve Zoric post match.

“I feel we deserved them with the amount of chances we created throughout the match and were the more aggressive but again we gave them a goal lead which was sloppy.

“We probably should have taken the lead on a couple of occasions before their goal, especially when Alec (Urosevski) hit the post early on but in saying that we were a little too cautious in defence at times in that opening twenty-minutes but as we started to go through the gears, we looked more likely.

“I can’t fault the effort today especially in these conditions, but I am disappointed we didn’t win this match at home but we’re still unbeaten and we go on to Blacktown next week.”

“It was a hard game to assess,” said Manly United coach Adam Griffiths.

“It was pretty ugly from our point of view and we weren’t as confident today as in other games and we invited pressure.

“I was disappointed with the goal we conceded but they opened us up, I felt we didn’t play at our best today against a very good Rockdale side.

“We’ll take the point but remain disappointed we didn’t win because we want to win all our games and we cannot use the conditions as an excuse.”

Match Stats

Rockdale Ilinden 1 (Cimenti 38’)

Manly United 1 (Pandurevic 34’)

Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale

Sunday, 21st March 2021

Referee: Matthew Riedy

Ast. Refs: Hugh Fenton-White & Amber Morris

4th Official: Aaron Bloch

Rockdale Ilinden: 1.David BRADASEVIC, 2.Daniel PETKOVSKI, 3.Michael NEILL (11.Nikola TANESKI 82’), 15.Mitchell STAMATELLIS, 5.Banri KANAZUMI, 7.Alec UROSEVSKI, 8.Tomaki WADA, 9.Bai ANTONIOU (18.Samual GULISANO 75’), 14.Brayden SORGE, 19.Patrick SAVOR, 23.Kyle CIMENTI (10.Amaury GAUTHIER 65’)

Subs not used: 13.Zac SFILIGOI, 22.Andrew DI BLASIO

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

Manly United: 19.Sam BENTON, 2.Kieren PAULL, 5.Sam GALLAGHER, 4.Jimmy OATES, 9.Ben KOOP (6.Joe FOX 78’), 10.Richie CARDOZO (13.Scott BALDERSON 55’), 11.Daniel FABRIZIO (12.Luca KMET 25’), 14.Dejan PANDUREVIC, 15.Jesse PIRIZ, 16.Seiya KAMBAYASHI, 24.Finn ASHTON (7.Jack FULTON 78”

Subs not used: 1.Dylan MITCHELL, 6.Joe FOX, 20.Alen AGANOVIC

Yellow Cards: Ashton 74’

Red Cards: Nil

Man of the Match

3 – Benton (MU)

2 – Savor (RI)

1 – Wada (RI)

-By Football NSW Reporter Micky Brock