Boardman double sinks valiant Suns
A bright start by Rockdale City Suns at home to Bonnyrigg White Eagles twice saw Stefan Donevski going close in the opening five minutes – the first effort blocked away for a corner and the second forced Ali Akbal saving with his legs in a chance that should have been snapped up before desperate last ditch tackles inside the area saw a mass of bodies scrambling to keep the parity in the Suns area.
Bonnyrigg were soon in the ascendancy as a tricky cross wind made it difficult for the Suns to clear their lines but they did produce the next good opening when Dominic Hudap played Donevski in on the left and his cross found captain Peter Apolevski in space on the right.
Apolevski?s effort was wayward and went way beyond the far post and out for a goal-kick as the home-side battled both the White Eagles and the elements.
As the wind died down Rockdale started to put some neat play together and another Donevski opportunity.
This time from a 20-yard free-kick, Donevski?s effort whistled past the post as the diminutive striker began to find his range as still the White Eagles had no real clear cut chances to make an impression in front of goal.
The deadlock was finally broken by Bonnyrigg in the 38? minute when Vuko Tomasevic worked his way into space in the corner before sending over an inch-perfect cross for Brad Boardman to rise majestically at the back stick and head home to give the visitors the lead.
Boardman probably should have added a second after the resumption but this time headed wide when in the clear from a cross on the left by Michael Brown, and then Elasi fired across goal shortly afterwards as Bonnyrigg went for the jugular as the embattled Suns strived to retain their shape and composure in searching for the equaliser.
Boardman was again put through, and this time his shot was saved by the feet of goalkeeper Ben McNamara before Rockdale went almost straight up field to find the net through Sam Awad, who side-footed home from the pacey Apolevski layback on the right to restore parity and really bring the game to life.
It remained all-square for just 5? minutes though as Boardman collected the ball and slipped it down the right before making a run to the far post and connect for his second header of the match to restore Bonnyrigg?s lead, as the contest heated up to almost boiling point.
Mile Todorovski made an immediate change by bringing on Marino Musumeci in place of Donevski up-front, clearly showing his intention to get something from the game with Apolevski switching to the left flank as both Baturay Akin and Pece Zaikovski quickly came on for George Lagoudakis and Sam Awad respectively.
Severino had an effort blocked on the line by Brown and Apolevski saw his header crash onto the crossbar and over as Rockdale valiantly attempted to rescue at least a point from the match and, perhaps on another day, they may have got the reward their tenacious tackling deserved.
Rockdale City Suns coach Mile Todorovski didn?t mix his words afterwards when saying:
?We created a few chances but Bonnyrigg had the best ones.
?We played with power but you need brains as well to win a game and we didn?t show any today.
?We are sitting comfortable at the moment but many more matches like this and we will be looking at the relegation spots.
?This game shows we are still learning as it was a top Premier League side against a top Super League team and we have to get to the that standard very quickly.?
White Eagles coach Brian Brown was the happier when he added:
?I?m fairly happy with the result because this is a hard place to come to get something from as the statistics will prove but we created the better opportunities today and Boardo (Brad Boardman) put a couple away.
?I though we created enough chances to win more comfortably but we?ll take the three points and look to the next game.
?The conditions were difficult for both sides in the wind and they battled hard but there is still room for improvement from us.?
Additional good news for the White Eagles was the presence of goalkeeper Phil Zabaks at the ground. The White Eagles number 1, who was hospitalised after a very serious head collision last weekend against Manly United FC, was sporting some 38-staples following the operation to relieve the blood pressure on the brain. All Football NSW media, players, coaches, clubs and supporters wish Zabaks a very speedy recovery.
The earlier Grade-20 match finished all square at one apiece.
Match Stats
Rockdale City Suns 1 (Sam Awad 53?)
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 2 (Bradley Boardman 38?, 58?)
Sunday, 25th April, 2010
Bicentennial Park South
Referee: Kris Griffiths-Jones
Assistant Referees: Alison Flynn and Brett Woodford
Fourth Official: Nicholas Tragoustis
Crowd: 950
Rockdale City Suns: 1.Ben McNamara; 2.Paul Dee, 3.Mark Bariamis, 7.Peter Apolevski, 8.Dominic Hudap, 12.Stefan Donevski (19.Marino Musemeci 59?), 16.Steven Bozinovski, 17.George Lagoudakis (13.Baturay Akin 76?), 18.Robert Di Meglio, 21.Sam Awad (9.Pece Zaikovski 70?), 23.Askin Oygur
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Andrija Petkovic, 22.Chad Taylor
Yellow Cards: Apolevski 45?
Red Cards: Nil
Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 1.Ali Akbal; 2.Paul Cotte, 4.Michael Brown, 6.Vuko Tomasevic, 7.Nikola Zonjic, 8.Milorad Simonovic (17.David Gullo 68?), 9.Brad Boardman, 11.Shane Webb, 15.Nathan Elasi (10.Daniel Severino 76?), 19.Jamie McMaster, 20.Wade Oostendorp
Substitutes Not Used: 5.Milan Zoric, 13.Juan Carlos Chavez, 90.Nenad Vekic
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 ? Brad Boardman (BWE)
2 ? Daniel Severino (BWE)
1 ? Sam Awad (RCS)
-By Micky Brock
