Suns left to rue missed opportunities
Mark Picciolini?s 42? minute strike, against the run of play, was enough to seal the points for the Wolves.
In a half that presented few chances, the best fell to the home side but they didn?t capitalise on good build up play and were strangely guilty of opting for the wrong option in front of the sticks on almost every occasion.
James Monie squandered the first chance in the 8? minute, failing to get enough purchase on a header that slipped over the crossbar.
Instead of playing with five across the back, the Suns went for a traditional 4-4-2 formation and looked to take the game to South Coast Wolves hard and fast, and the strategy worked well.
The visitors seemed conscious of the Suns approach, though they seemed unable to make the necessary changes on the pitch during the first-half but they could have taken the lead earlier when a defensive mix-up between goalkeeper and defender gifted Sasho Petrovski a golden opportunity. Suns goalkeeper Ben McNamara was able to scramble back and save the lobbed effort from the Wolves striker in the 10? minute in what was just about their only real chance of the half until the Picciolini?s strike.
Steven Veleski, making himself busy, was slipped through for the Suns in the 21? minute and should have done better than fire narrowly wide of the upright, and when he combined with Monie 4? minutes later, it took a last ditch tackle to clear the danger. The resulting corner came to nought, and with Alex Mansueto playing strongly at the back for the visitors, the task was all the harder for the Suns.
Itsuki Hasegawa sent a raking pass into the box for Shane Spitz to chest into the path of Monie in a wonderful flowing move that again went wide of the mark for the home side.
At the other end, Petrovski had a free-kick from the edge of the box deflected away off the wall for a corner in reply but still neither side was able to breach the defences.
The best chance of the half arrived in the 41? minute when Veleski used his pace to pierce the Wolves defence, going past defenders like they were statues but in getting to the line he should have pulled it back for Monie, or squared into the unmarked Adem Kir, but instead chose to try and draw Brodie Crane from his line and beat him at the near post, a low percentage option that proved costly not 60-seconds later as Piccolini found the net for the Wolves.
Petrovski should have side-footed home from a Samat Kaynak cross but McNamara spread himself full length to deny the effort, and when the ball came back to the striker, a goalmouth scramble ensued that was eventually cleared.
Rockdale upped the tempo further at the start of the second-half when Veleski again broke down the right and this time pulled the ball back for Spitz who became the latest player to fire narrowly wide.
Dave Abel played over a cross that Monie was unable to reach in ended at the feet of Suns captain Peter Apolevski on the right who sent it back into the area, before the ball was directed behind for a corner.
South Coast, although forced to soak up the pressure, should have doubled their lead in the 59? minute when a Stephan Paric corner was headed back across goal to be met by the head of Piccolini. The striker?s attempt was cleared off the line, and when the two again combined moments later it was McNamara who came to the Suns rescue.
Lee Sterrey was forced into tactical changes and went to three at the back as Rockdale went in search of an equaliser.
Hasegawa fired a free-kick wide from the edge of the box in a tame effort after Jack Dusczynski gave away a needless foul yet when Apolevski put in a ball across the face of goal there was no-one following in sharply enough to apply the simplest of touches to share the spoils.
The game was crying out for anyone to put their foot on the ball, slow things down in the middle of the park and select the correct option going forward but with the pitch cutting up in the latter stages, it didn?t eventuate.
In a game dominated by the home side, it was they who came away with nothing leaving coach Lee Sterrey to lament afterwards:
?We wanted to play a high tempo game and be up in their faces and with the pitch getting bumpier and bumpier day by day you have to play off your front line and attain a lot of second phase play and ball, but I thought our intensity to go on with it as the half wore on was disappointing.
?I feel we controlled the first-half up until 42? minutes when they had one chance and put it way and perhaps should have added a second a minute later and to give up two chances in that space of time meant we switched off at the back for a couple of minutes.
?Had we won today we put ourselves in the Top Five and that is what was at stake and I stressed that to the players as two wins on the trot puts you right back in the thick of things.
?We were up for the game but only in second gear and we needed to be more ruthless and gone on with it and scored plenty and that is how we?ve been playing without getting the end product.?
A relieved South Coast Wolves coach Trevor Morgan agreed they were somewhat fortunate when adding:
?Rockdale surprised me and I?ve been watching their squad a little bit this season and we had set up our structure to counter their normal pattern but they came out in a 4-4-2 formation and threw those plans out the window and I asked the boys at half-time if anyone had noticed that and they said they had so I asked them why we didn?t change things on the pitch then?
?We did score against the run of play and perhaps should have had another immediately afterwards, but last week I thought we shared the first-half with Marconi and were dominant in the second and it?s fair to say it was the reverse here today.
?We had chances in the second 45? minutes when young (John) Martinovski hit the post and Piccolini was clean through a couple of times when the ball bounced awkwardly leaving him to decide whether to head the ball or let it drop to the foot but we didn?t make the best of those chances and I have to admit that Rockdale controlled the match.?
In the Grade-20 division, South Coast Wolves went down 1-0 to Rockdale City Suns, the goal courtesy of a Jamie Slaveski penalty chipped down the middle.
Match Stats
Rockdale City Suns 0
South Coast Wolves 1 (Piccolini 42?)
Sunday 8th May, 2011
Ilinden Sports Centre, Bicentennial Park
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: Adam Coombes and Thomas Lee
Fourth Official: Nathan Roberts
Rockdale City Suns: 1.Ben McNamara; 13.Giorgio Speranza, 21.Mirko Jurilj, 23.Askin Oygur, 7.Peter Apolevski (C), 11.Adem Kir, 14.Itsuki Hasegawa (9.Jason Naidovski 67), 3.Shay Spitz (8.Dominic Hudap 67), 5.Jeffrey Issa (17.Sash Tirovski 76), 18.Steven Veleski, 12.James Monie
Substitutes Not Used: 22.Dion Shaw, 10.Sash Trajcevski
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
South Coast Wolves: 1.Brody Crane (C); 2.Alex Mansueto, 3.David Abel, 4.Jacob Timpano, 5.Nick Littler, 8.Andres Gomez, 9.Mark Piccolini, 10.Sasho Petrovski (14.Cam Littler 70), 11.Chris Nathaniel (7.Samat Kaynak 30?) (17.John Martinovski 62?), 13.Stephan Paric, 15.Jack Duczynski
Substitutes Not Used: 16.Tom Cirjak, 21.Hayden Durose
Yellow Cards: Timpano 91
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 ? Mark Piccolini (SCW)
2 ? Andrew Gomez (SCW)
1 ? Askin Oygur (RCS)
-By Micky Brock
