Waratah Cup Champions held by Suns
The Northern Beaches side started brightly enough and created a couple of openings within the first 5? minutes. Jason Naidovski fouled Scott Balderson on the edge of the penalty-area resulting in Matthew Simm hitting his free-kick over the crossbar, before Giorgio Speranza?s handball on 4? minutes saw Simm fire his set-piece into the wall.
Jimmy Oates had to head smartly off the line to stop Rockdale from taking the lead in the 12? minute, before Adem Kir down the left flank pulled the ball back for Naidovski inside the box, only for the striker to miss-hit his attempt ? due to a poor bounce of the ball – and the opportunity went begging for the home side.
Adem Kir was causing headaches for the Manly defence and only a timely tackle from captain Marc Richards inside the area prevented a clear shot on goal.
James Monie twice rounded Graeme Forbes, twisted past the defence and unleashed a shot that had Manly United goalkeeper Dylan Mitchell moving swiftly to spoil.
It was almost against the run of play when Manly took the lead not 60?? seconds later through Adam Foti who thundered a shot past Ben McNamara.
The Suns were rocked but came back stronger than ever and a 30-yard free-kick from Naidovski warmed the hands of Mitchell. The attempt was closely followed by a Sash Tirovski effort, from roughly the same distance, flashing past the upright.
Foti almost doubled his and Manly?s tally but the final touch was just too strong enabling McNamara to gather bravely at the feet of the Manly United striker.
Monie again had a spectacular bicycle kick go narrowly wide as the Suns attacked in numbers, but they managed to pull back a deserved equaliser when Kir crossed from the right for Tirovski to volley goal ward that had the goalkeeper stretching. Mitchell?s parried attempt saw the ball fall into the path of Naidovski who followed up smartly to smash the ball home to restore.
Manly United FC rang the changes at the start of the second-half with David Dodds replacing Joseph Gibbs and Justin Hayward coming on for Robbie Cattanach 10? minutes later. Both players were involved in creating a chance for Jordon Edwards, who was clean through but scuffed a weak shot toward McNamara in the Suns goal.
The visitors continued to apply pressure and engineered another chance moments later. Colin Iley volleyed over from an Adam Foti cross and it was Rockdale?s turn to soak up the pressure.
It wasn?t until the 62? minute that the Suns fashioned a decent opportunity. A Tirovski deflected shot caused some concern for the Manly United rearguard, though Mitchell readjusted his positioning quickly to smother the ball.
Hayward had the chance to put United ahead in the 81? minute but his shot across the face of goal just needed a touch to be put away, though no Manly player was able to reach the ball and it bobbled out for a goal kick.
Manly United should have stolen all the points near the end when Hayward was again put in the clear but just as he was about to pull the trigger, the ball hit a divot and bobbled up as the half-hit shot dipped just in front of McNamara who managed to tip it around the post.
Then came the moment of controversy as far as Manly United were concerned when they awarded a free-kick in a central position on the edge of the area in stoppage time. However, before the side could take their set-piece, the referee blew the final whistle.
Craig Midgley was left fuming after the match when saying:
?We feel that it was an amazing decision but what can you do?
?I?ve never seen a game where you have a free-kick on the edge of the box and the referee blows the whistle to end the game but I can?t do anything about it.
?There?s nothing to say we would have scored from that position but we?ll never know that now.
?Overall I was pleased with the performance and effort in the second-half and we started really brightly but they pegged us back and we struggled to find the answer and it was almost against the run of lay when we took the lead.
?We started well, they came over the top of us and I was glad to get to half-time, make a few changes and we started to dictate play after the break but we just couldn?t get the second goal we needed and that?s football.
?Rockdale at home are a hard side to take on and they are improving and you won?t get an easy game here but the three points today would have been nice on their patch but a draw was probably a fair result at the end.?
Suns coach Wally Savor was philosophical when stating:
?I?m not quite sure what happened at the end there to be honest but we have to be glad they didn?t get to take the free-kick as it could have been a last gasp winner or whatever.
?It was a funny game as the pitch wasn?t the best after all the rain and was pretty heavy but it was two contrasting styles of football out there with Manly playing the long ball up to the front runners who lay it off to the midfield and from there the second phase play. Meanwhile, we were trying to play on the ground and the conditions probably suited their style of game more than ours.
?They are strong in midfield and have a very good work ethic on the pitch but when we put it on the deck we play some good football and both teams had their moments in the match and you have to say at the end of the day a draw was a fair result.
?I?m happy with boys, they work hard and we?re trying to build a winning attitude here and are improving week by week and we respect every team we play either here or away. We fear nobody and that is the attitude we take into every game and the boys are stepping up to the plate.?
In the Grade-20 division, Rockdale City Suns went down by the solitary goal against Manly United.
Match Stats
Rockdale City Suns 1 (Jason Naidovski 39?)
Manly United FC 1 (Adam Foti 26?)
Sunday 17th July, 2011
Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Referee: Kevin Peddie
Assistant Referees: Scott Edeling and Tom Lee
Fourth Official: Roland Hunt
Rockdale City Suns: 1.Ben McNamara; 23.Askin Oygur, 6.Joshua Lawson, 13.Giorgio Speranza, 11.Adem Kir (7.Peter Apolevski 81?), 8.Dominic Hudap, 17.Sash Tirovski, 3, Shay Spitz, 2.Paul Dee (C) (10.Sash Trajcevski 70?), 12.James Monie, 9.Jason Naidovski (14.Itsuki Hasegawa 89?)
Substitutes Not Used: 19.Marino Musumeci, 22.Dion Shaw
Yellow Cards: Speranza 4?
Red Cards: Nil
Manly United FC: 1.Dylan Mitchell; 2.Jimmy Oates, 4.Graham Forbes, 5.Marc Richards (C), 7.Scott Balderson, 9.Robbie Cattanach (11.Justin Hayward 55?), 10.Adam Foti,17.Matthew Simm, 18.Colin Iley, 21.Joseph Gibbs (8.David Dodd 46?), 25.Jordon Edwards
Substitutes Not Used: 22.Kang Ho Lee, 13.Mitchell Macedo, 6.John Hall
Yellow Cards: Edwards 16, Foti 31
Red Cards: Nil
-By Micky Brock
