Bankstown take the spoils at Rockdale
The goal was against the run of play following the first 45? minutes, though the match was certainly memorable for the Suns new Japanese import signing, Hsuki Hasegawa.
Hasegawa, in his brief 60? minute cameo showed pace, vision, intelligence, trickery, raking passes, quick feet and he can head the ball – and he would have perhaps been Man of the Match had he remained on the field for the full 90? minutes, but his presence justified the astute signing made by the club.
Daniel Slaveski had the first opportunity for the visitors after 5? minutes of play but his wayward left-foot shot skewed off the boot and ended up handsomely wide of the mark.
Rockdale replied with a delightful move down the right involving Dominic Hudap slipped the ball to captain Peter Apolevski who in turn sent Steven Veleski through but his left-footed attempt lacked power and was easily dealt with.
The Suns goalkeeper needed to come smartly off his line at the other end to head clear the danger posed by a free-kick as Rockdale?s defence looked almost asleep, though that incident was to surely wake them up.
Rockdale began to impose themselves on the game to the point it looked odds on they would open the scoring, however Zlatko Joseski got down at full stretch to prevent Hasegawa from opening his NSW Premier League account. Hasegawa attempted from long-range shortly after, stinging the palms of the Lions custodian but still the home side couldn?t find the back of the net.
The atmosphere inside the ground was somewhat subdued and this may have affected the performance on the pitch as Rockdale squandered a plethora of chances with Bankstown reduced to occasional long range half-chances and set pieces that came to nought.
Hudap sent Shane Spitz away on the left once more for the Suns and his searing cross skidded across the area with no-one following up near enough to get the finishing touch – and the home side would rue the missed chances later on.
Bankstown City managed a little more play toward the end of the first 45? minutes, more through Rockdale taking their foot off the peddle after a busy half than stepping up a gear. This almost reaped reward for the visitors when firstly Hussein Salameh was adjudged offside but still shot wide, which was quickly followed by Burgin heading wide. On the whistle, a Slaveski long range effort sailed harmlessly wide as the teams went in scoreless at the break.
Steven Bozinovski quietly went about business in the visitor?s midfield and was involved in just about everything good in the first period for Bankstown, and it only got better as the game wore on. It was Bozinovski who set-up the free-kick for Burgin to score what turned out to be the only strike of the match.
Both coaches made changes but it was now Rockdale who, for all their good work, were chasing the game and that meant pushing on and leaving space for the counter-attack.
The visitors very nearly caught the Suns out several times but none more so than when Salameh jinked his way into the penalty-area, and with Rockdale?s defence guilty of ball watching, he slipped a pass to Burgin who concocted an effort onto the crossbar with just the goalkeeper to beat from 12-yards.
The home side had no option but to throw caution to the wind if they were get anything from the game and were desperately unlucky not to get a point when Sash Tirovski spun on the edge of the penalty-area and unleashed a shot that had Joseski clutching at straws and well beaten, as the ball thudded against the outside of the upright and away to safety in what proved the last worthwhile effort of the match.
Rockdale showed signs of being on the verge of becoming a team to watch out for this season but with so many new faces in the side it will take time to gel, however the Lions had to ride their luck for long periods but the did so and managed to get three-points in the first of two derbies against the Suns with the old adage ?not taking chances costing games? for once being on their side.
Lee Sterrey commented after the match:
?It?s very disappointing to lose a derby by one goal because we dominated for most of the match except when they went down the line, but we should have had two on one and instead it?s one on one and we give away a free-kick that gets flicked on for them to score.
?Execution wise you are right as we had maybe 90% of the first-half but we weren?t quick enough, the passing wasn?t slick enough and our front third was diabolical tonight with the crossing and we were not sharp enough and it really is as simple as that.
?We?ve ended up chasing the game and Blagoja (Kuleski) has countered when we?ve played the extra man and they?ve done it well and at the end of the day we?ve only got ourselves to blame,? Sterrey ended.
Bankstown City Lions coach, Blagoja Kuleski, stated:
?This is our big derby and it was always going to be very hard and it?s usually very close but last year we lost our games to Rockdale and we knew it would be tough but we are happy to get the points tonight.
?The first-half we were struggling because we didn?t start as fast as Rockdale and in their pre-season games they didn?t play the same eleven so we had to sort out the style of play and who was picking up who but our second-half was performance was much better and maybe we could have got another goal to make the game safer.
?It was very important that we win our first game of the season and we have to be happy with the points here tonight.?
In the Grade-20 match, Rockdale City Suns suffered the same fate as their first team, going down to Bankstown City 2-1 with the winning goal coming from Bankstown keeper Jordan Nikolovski from the penalty spot.
Match Stats
Rockdale City Suns 0
Bankstown City 1 (Shannon Burgin 49?)
Saturday 2nd April, 2011
Illenden Sports Centre, Bicentennial Park
Referee: Khodr Yaghi
Assistant Referees: Nick Backo and Samuel Grasso
Fourth Official: Matthew Colquhoun
Rockdale City Suns: 22.Dion Shaw; 3.Shane Spitz (Jeffrey Issa 53?), 6.Joshua Lawson, 7.Peter Apolevski (C), 8.Dominic Hudap, 9 Jason Naidovski (12.James Monie 70?), 13.Giorgio Speranza, 17.Sash Tirovski, 18.Steven Veleski, 23.Askin Oygur, 42.Hsuki Hasegawa (11.Adem Kir 59?)
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Brad McNamara, 19.Marino Musumeci
Yellow Cards: Apolevski 79?
Red Cards: Nil
Bankstown City: 1.Zlatko Joseski (C); 2.Omar Saadi, 4.Stephen Bozinovski, 5.David Gardiner, 6.Daniel Slaveski (3.Chris Petrovski 66), 7.Stefanos Liavas, 8.Peter Peralta, 9.Shannon Burgin (19.Daniel Zeleny 75), 10.Hussein Salameh, 16.Eric Nyamekye(11.Danny Wilson 46?),17.Steven Krteski
Substitutes Not Used: 00.Jordan Nikolovski
Yellow Cards: Bozinovski 60?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 ? Steve Bozinovski (BCL)
2 ? Sash Tirovski (RCS)
1 ? Hsuki Hasegawa (RCS)
-By Micky Brock
