Suns grab vital point at Blacktown
The 2-2 scoreline actually saw both teams come away disappointed that they did not win the match.
Blacktown City sent out a warning shot very early on as Tolgay Ozbey fired a shot over the crossbar in the very first minute.
However, over the opening 10? minutes, it was Rockdale who really placed most pressure on their opponents with Sam Awad and Stefan Donevski combining well in the attacking third without putting a dangerous shot in on goal.
For Blacktown City, it was a case of reducing the turnovers at the back as the easy possession Rockdale was gaining was the cause of Blacktown?s early issues.
The home-side did reduce the errors and within a couple of minutes were in front.
First Roodenberg , who got married on Friday just gone, put a quality ball into the middle but Ozbey could not get to it before Brad McNamara in the Rockdale goal.
However, a minute later, Ozbey ran onto a ball in the goal area. He drifted to the right of the goal and collected the ball at the tightest of angles, and from virtually next to the near post he curled the ball past McNamara, who was closing down what little angle there was.
Blacktown proceeded to produce some of the finest football available in the NSW Premier League for the next quarter of an hour, however they could not convert any of the chances into goals. Lachlan Cahill, Ozbey and Roodenberg were all outstanding during this period but the man who was orchestrating the band was Jordan Simpson, with decisive runs, flick passes, back heels and quick, accurate passing plays.
Then in the 28? minute, and against the general run of play, Robert Di Meglio was presented with possession on the attacking third in the middle of the park. With no one around him he had time to slide a perfect ball to the feet of Marino Musumeci who created the yard of space he needed to drive the ball past goalkeeper Michael Herbet, and into the back of the net. For Herbet it was his last action of the game as he limped off.
Soon after, claims for a penalty by Rockdale City were quickly dismissed by referee James Lewis. The ball instead came down the other end and Cahill played Jordan Simpson down the left. Rather than cross the ball, Simpson instead stepped back inside and from the edge of the area fired the ball through traffic and past McNamara to help his team re-establish their one-goal lead.
On 35? minutes, a penalty claim, this time made by the home-side, was again dismissed by Lewis as Ozbey and Adam Kir clash in the penalty area. They would soon clash again, this time the result being a lot of blood from Kir and a yellow card for Ozbey.
In between, a brilliant one-two interchange by Jurilj and Jordan Simpson saw Jurilj free in the area from Simpson?s back heel but the shot was smashed well over the crossbar.
Right on half-time more poor possession play by Blacktown gave the visitors a half chance but the opportunity amount to nothing due to some poor execution.
In the second-half the visitors started to play more comfortably, and with the home-side playing deeper and deeper, and more importantly losing their shape, the sharp passing game of Rockdale started to make an impact.
Once more, early on, Blacktown tried to gain the upper hand with a long distance shot from Roodenberg, but McNamara was good enough to stop it.
However, Rockdale had a warning of their own as Musumeci had a great chance presented to him thanks to a cross from the right from Pece Apolevski but the diminutive midfielder snatched at the shot and put the ball well over the crossbar.
Now there was end to end football being played as Roodenberg laid the ball into Simpson who shaved the bar with his cross. Rockdale then put on a period of strong pressure but could only manage one actual shot on target, which was turned over the crossbar by substitute custodian Justin Beiga.
It was not all Rockdale though as Mitchell Long tried to convert an Ozbey cross, though Long could only get his knee to it and the ball went wide of the target.
In the 65? minute the Rockdale pressure led to a free-kick which Di Meglio took. The ball was headed on and had to be hurriedly kicked out by the Blacktown City defence. Some away fans claimed a Blacktown hand came in contact with the ball on 66? minutes but all the players just played on.
By this stage, despite not really coming up with shots on goal, Rockdale had forced Blacktown into a long ball game. This gave away possession even more cheaply and thus the Rockdale wave seemed relentless at times without having that cutting edge up front.
The man who seemed most likely for Rockdale was Sam Awad who seemed to be at the heart of every good move, setting up his team mates with intelligent passing and lead up work. On 70? minutes, Awad combined well with substitute Daniel Pejovski and Marino Musumeci, only for the latter to shoot off target.
More scrambled defence denied Di Meglio and Awad and it seemed with 15 minutes to go an equaliser would never come, Awad coming closest when he hit the side netting.
For Blacktown it seemed like they were a different team from the one of the first half, as they lost shape and thus control of the game in the middle of the park.
Luke Roodenberg did almost score in the 78th minute to relieve the pressure but keeper McNamara made himself big and denied the chip shot.
Even up to the 83? minute, Blacktown were giving away too much possession and it would come back to haunt them. Apolevski played a clever ball into the middle of the goal area from the right and with his first touch of the match substitute Baturay Akin slotted the ball along the ground and past the goalkeeper to give his side an equalising goal.
This seemed to spark Blacktown back into action but the three free-kicks they were presented on the right hand side of the penalty area in the closing minutes were all wasted with no real shots on goal generated.
In injury-time Blacktown City had a couple of half chances to win it but could not do so, and the score remained 2-2.
Rockdale City Suns coach Mile Todoroski had mixed feelings about the result:
?Had you offered me a point before the game I would have been satisfied with it. Now I am not so happy as we had chances to kill the game but did not take them.
?I am happy with the commitment of my lads, the boys have a lot of skills to play good football but they will also fight for the whole 90? minutes, as they did today.
?As the game progressed we were improving so that was also a good thing from the match.?
Aytek Genc, coach of the Blacktown City side, was disappointed with his team but also wanted to give credit to the Rockdale players:
?We were really sloppy today, but we were playing a team that lifted, and they played a fast paced game. I give them credit for their performance today but for us our ball retention was poor and it was our worst performance of the season.
?We need to get our minds back on the job and look to the next game now.?
In the Grade-20 match, Blacktown City came from behind to defeat Rockdale City Suns 3-2.
Match Stats
Blacktown City FC 2 (Tolgay Ozbey 12?, Jordan Simpson 33?
Rockdale City Suns 2 (Marino Musumeci 28?, Baturay Akin 83?)
Sunday, 14th March, 2010
Lily Homes Stadium
Referee: James LEWIS
Assistant Referees: Scott EDELING and Mat COLQUHOUN
Fourth Official: Steven LUCAS
Crowd: 550
Blacktown City FC: 1.Michael HERBET (40.Justin BEIGA 29?); 2.Tyler SIMPSON, 4.Mirko JURILJ (5.Luka DUKIC 80?), 7.Luke ROODENBERG, 6.Mark PRESELLO, 9.Kain RASTALL (12.Brendan Maroney 70?), 10.Jordan SIMPSON, 11.Mitchell LONG, 13.Lachlan CAHILL, 19.Tolgay OZBEY, 22.Zac CAIRNCROSS
Substitutes Not Used: 6.Ante Deur
Yellow Cards: Ozbey 39?
Red Cards: Nil
Rockdale City Suns: 1.Ben MCNAMARA; 2.Paul DEE (17.George LAGOUDAKIS 68?), 6.Iain KING, 7.Pece APOLEVSKI, 11.Adem KIR, 12.Stefan DONEVSKI (15.Daniel PEJOVSKI 62?), 16.Steven BOZINOVSKI, 18.Robert DI MEGLIO (13.Baturay AKIN 80?), 19.Marino MUSUMECI, 21.Sam AWAD, 23.Askin OYGUR
Substitutes Not Used: 3.Mark BARIAMIS, 22.Chad TAYLOR
Yellow Cards: Di Meglio 88?, Lagoudakis 90?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Jordan Simpson (BC)
2 – Sam Awad (RCS)
1 – Tolgay Ozbey (BC)
-By Stuart Jones
