Manly United fall to Rockdale Ilinden
Manly United lost 4-0 to Rockdale Ilinden at the Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon.
A double to Alec Urosevski, plus goals to Mathieu Cordier and Blake Ricciuto, mean Paul Dee’s men are sitting comfortably at the top of the table with a game in hand, which is away to Marconi Stallions on Wednesday night.
The first real chance of the game arrived in the 12th minute and it was the opening goal of the encounter. In a nice move, Urosevski found Brendan Cholakian, who in turn found Mathieu Cordier for an outstanding left-footed diagonal shot into the bottom corner of the net.
In the 16th minute, Giorgio Speranza delightfully put in a through ball for Urosevski and the competition’s leading marksman fired towards goal, only to be blocked by some brave defending from Alen Aganovic.
Rockdale then had two free kicks which almost resulted in a breakthrough. The first free kick in the 20th minute from Cholakian reached Urosevski, but the home side’s captain headed over the crossbar. The second, again from Cholakian a few minutes later and from an almost identical position, reached Dean Pelekanos, but his header was well saved by ‘keeper Levi Kaye down to his left.
Manly United’s first real opportunity arrived on the half hour mark when Connor Rose crossed from the right to Blake Bamgbose, who volleyed over the goal much to his own frustration.
Rockdale Ilinden pressed again in the 35th minute down the left side when Cordier found Speranza close to goal, but the defender fired over the intended target.
A few minutes later Lachlan Griffiths volleyed from just outside the box and just wide of the mark, after some aerial ping-pong following a corner from Cholakian as another Rockdale Ilinden chance went begging.
However, right on the stroke of halftime, Ilinden were awarded a penalty when Aganovic brought down Urosevski in the box and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Urosevski himself took the penalty with his traditional long run up and fired straight down the middle to double the home side’s lead.
The first chance after the break resulted in Rockdale’s third goal and Urosevski’s 20th of the season. A Cholakian corner wasn’t cleared properly by the Manly defence and Urosevski found the back of the net from close range.
Rockdale could have scored again in the 62nd minute. A Cordier cross found Dean Pelekanos who, from point-blank range, brought out the best from Kaye.
In the 71st minute, Rockdale threatened again. A Bai Antoniou cross from the by-line reached Cholakian, who headed from a great position but Levi Kaye once again stood tall between the sticks and made another great save.
There was even more pressure from Rockdale in the 75th minute when Cholakian centred the ball to Hunter Elliott, who forced another great save from the goalkeeper.
Rockdale’s fourth goal came in the 77th minute when Cholakian found Urosevski, who then fed it into the box from where Blake Ricciuto headed home.
In the 80th minute William Faulder had a shot from outside the box and with a slight touch from ‘keeper Riccardo Rizzo, the ball ended up onto the post and away for a corner in what was too little, too late for Manly United.
After the game Rockdale Ilinden’s coach Paul Dee was very proud of his team.
“It was a very good game from us today,” he said.
“We took control of that game from the start and we stuck at it for 90 minutes.
“It’s challenging to manage all our games at the moment with back-to-back midweek games. It’s a tough schedule for everybody really and the teams that get through it may look back at this as a defining moment.
“It will be another tough game against Marconi on Wednesday and we’ll have to be prepared and put on our best performance on the pitch game by game, and that’s all we are trying to do.”
Over in the Manly United dressing room coach Patrick Zwaanswijk was disappointed with his team’s result.
“We didn’t play well in the first half and we weren’t ourselves really,” he said. “We played too much zonal and gave them too much respect in my opinion.
“I told the players that at halftime, that we can’t do that here against Rockdale and we needed to work more as a team.
“The midweek games make it hard and it is definitely a factor and if you don’t have a full squad of fit players like us it makes it harder, but it’s the same for every club too.”
ROCKDALE ILINDEN FC 4 (Cordier 12’, Urosevski 45’ + 3 pen. & 51’, Ricciuto 77’)
MANLY UNITED FC 0
Match Stats
Sunday 16th June 2024
Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Referee: Brodie Merchant
Assistant Referees: Matthew Harris, Oliver Leanfore
Fourth Official: Ethan Zvargulis
ROCKDALE ILINDEN FC: 20. Riccardo Rizzo, 3. Lachlan Griffiths, 5. Giorgio Speranza, 6. Isaac Danzo, 7. Alec Urosevski, 8. Dean Pelekanos (2. Daniel Collins 77’), 10. Brendan Cholakian (15. Olayinka Sunmola 77’), 11. Lochlan Constable, 14. Brayden Sorge (9. Bai Antoniou 63’), 22. Blake Ricciuto (77. So Kataoka 77’), 66. Mathieu Cordier (23. Hunter Elliott 63’).
Substitutes not used: 29. Steven Kriezis.
Yellow Cards: Cordier 55’, Elliott 85’
Red Cards: Nil
MANLY UNITED FC: 1. Levi Kaye, 2. Kieren Paull, 3. Zac Sfiligoi, 4. Jesse Piriz, 6. Saxon Hillyer, 7. Peter Kekeris (29. William Faulder 59’), 11. Connor Rose (12. Miguel Bauza 73’), 19. Alen Aganovic (28. Lachlan Bishop 59’), 22. Blake Bamgbose (9. Benjamin Koop 73’), 39. Stefano Rossello, 45. Bilal Belkadi (8. Joseph Fox 59’).
Substitutes not used: 31. Jay Coates
Yellow Cards: Piriz 44’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Alec Urosevski (RI)
2 – Isaac Danzo (RI)
1 – Levi Kaye (MU)
By Football NSW
