Suns upward climb stumped by Tigers
On an overcast Sunday afternoon, the Suns immediately found themselves under the pump in the opening minute when a defensive mix-up between the centre-backs drew goalkeeper Ryan Norval off his line, allowing Tigers striker Ethan Galbraith to stride forward and head over the stranded custodian to give the Tigers the lead.
Rockdale hit back from the kick-off but saw the ball bounce back off the crossbar and into the grateful arms of Anthony Costa as the visitors survived their first real test of the day with a good degree of luck.
APIA-Leichhardt, battling to avoid the wooden spoon, were closing down early and making life extremely difficult for Rockdale and the visitors carved out the better chances in the opening 20? minutes that included a 30-yard strike from Stephen Kayes that was straight at Norval.
Mark Byrnes was just able to take the ball off the head of the on-rushing Joshua Lawson to prevent an equaliser for the home side after they weathered the early storm and began to gain ground and fight back in some style.
Adam Casey set off on a run for APIA-Leichhardt that took him through the Suns? defence in the 27? minute that required a deft last-ditch goal saving tackle from Lawson to defuse the situation.
The resultant corner amounted to nothing as the quick breaks from the visitors were a cause for some concern for the home side.
Tigers captain Michael West was needed to head away from a free-kick in the 32? minute, again off the head of Tirovski, as the Suns attacking policy gained momentum without seriously damaging their opponents on the score board.
The Suns were made to pay when a long punt up field from Costa found Hawrysiuk. The midfielder went one-on-one with Askin Oygur and the APIA man won the battle, planting a left-foot shot across Norval to double the lead with a magnificent finish.
Rockdale found themselves two down at the break with a mountain to climb in the second 45? minutes.
Neither side made changes at the start of the second period with the ensuing 45? minutes possibly defining the season for both.
Brendan Reilly, the Tigers? number 18, was having a strong game at right back for the visitors with his no-nonsense approach to defending. The defender was called upon heavily during the match and was not found wanting, particularly as Rockdale started the period the better and took the game by the scruff of the neck.
APIA-Leichhardt, of course, knew they could bide their time, sit back and hit on the break as it was up to the Suns to come at them if they were to get anything from the match.
Much of the play centred around the middle of the park which became congested, stifling the Suns passing game somewhat as the end-to-end action was curtailed and became bogged down.
Suns coach Mark Rudan showed his hand by replacing attacking midfielder Sash Tirovski with striker Huseyin Jasli in the 59? minute in an all or nothing gamble that didn?t pay dividends when Adam Casey broke through for the Tigers 10? minutes later, rounded Norval and slotted home a third goal with a little over 20? minutes to play.
With the match effectively over, and the result seemingly confirmed, there was still pride to play for. Whereas previously the home side?s heads would drop, they now continued to fight for a consolation goal which did arrive in the 76? minute. Paul Kohler beat Costa to the ball and headed home and reduce the deficit to two.
Shortly after, a free-kick was flicked on by substitute Jasli for Kohler though he was unable to prod home at full stretch ? the ball going agonisingly wide of the far upright.
The final analysis was it became a game too far for Rockdale to reel back, but unlike in the past, they gave it a shot however, take nothing away from APIA, they are called Tigers and played like them too as jubilant Assistant Tigers coach Nick Rizzo pointed out afterwards:
?I think we deserved the win, the boys really came out and fought hard.
?The intensity was there and the team really wanted it today and I feel we deserved the three points.
?We have been a little low on confidence and the goal in the 1? minute gave us the spur to go on with the job and get the result and we grew from there.
?Our second goal was a cracker and our third was a good team effort, a terrific through ball and a classy finish so overall we are pretty delighted with the result today.?
Counterpart Mark Rudan added:
?That has to be the most disappointing result to date for me since I took over but in saying that it was three uncharacteristic mistake that cost us today.
?It was really that that cost us all three goals and realistically we gave all three goals away and that isn?t like us as far as I am concerned.
?No matter what level you play at you cannot do that, particularly in this league but APIA did well enough to finish off their chances when they came and we didn?t, their second goal was an absolute cracker and Adam Casey did well to take their third but again it came from our mistakes.
?We move on, we keep fighting away and our destiny is still in our own hands realistically. ?Today we came up against a team that wanted it just that little bit more and we cannot win every game of course, so we?ll regroup, refocus our efforts for the remaining fixtures and look to our next match to regain the momentum.?
Match Stats
Rockdale City Suns 1 (Paul Kohler 76?)
APIA Leichhardt Tigers 3 (Ethan Galbraith 1?, Michael Hawrysiuk 38?, Adam Casey 69)
Sunday 5th August, 2012
Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Referee: Chris Young
Assistant Referees: Seb Brennen and Alex Long
Fourth Official: Jamie Gavin
Rockdale City Suns: 1.Ryan Norval; 2.Takuya Muruyama, 3.Giorgio Speranza, 6.Joshua Lawson, 23.Askin Oygur, 5.Pece Cvetanovski (C), 8.Paul Kohler, 15.Tommy Cirjak, 16.Anthony Perri (11.David Talevski 65?), 17.Sash Tirovski (12.Huseyin Jasli 59?), 18.Alec Urosevski (9.Jason Naidovski 90?)
Substitutes Not Used: 21.Ricky Perinich, 22.Aaron Liddell
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
APIA Leichhardt Tigers: 21.Anthony Costa; 2.Mark Byrnes, 3.Adel El Jamal, 4.Mun-Soo Gil (20.Gyu Re Lee 90?+2?), 5.Michael West (C), 7.Stephen Kayes, 9.Ethan Galbraith (12.Nick Taneski 85?), 10.Franco Parisi (15.Brad Bartels 74?), 14.Adam Casey, 16.Michael Hawrysiuk, 18.Brendan Reilly.
Substitutes Not Used: 22.David Bradasevic, 19.P. Galimi
Yellow Cards: Ethan Galbraith 12?, Brendan Reilly 23?, Michael Hawrysiuk 66?
Red Cards: Nil
-By Micky Brock
