Blacktown City knock wind out of the Suns
Rockdale City Suns opened its 2013 campaign against pre-season favourites Blacktown City at Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon in increasingly blustery conditions, going down in the process 2-0 following an assumed controversy that saw the home side on the wrong end of the score line.
With the fluctuating wind causing havoc early on it was little more than a midfield scramble during the opening exchanges with very little in the way of goalmouth drama.
Sean Rooney capitalised on poor defending from the Suns in the 13’ minute of play.
Some terrific work down the City left saw a low cross missed by most of the home defence before taking a slight nick off Askin Oyger. The ball deflected into the path of Rooney who was able to side foot the ball home under the body of Diego Barcena in the home net.
They had, in reality, come to terms with the conditions slightly better but the goal came neither with nor against the run of play if truth be told.
The lead was nearly doubled in the 29’ minute when another Oyger error occurred.
Playing an underweight ball back to Paul Kohler, leading to his defensive partner being forced to put in a sliding tackle to control the situation, it was the former who managed to get back and take the ball off the toe of Matthew Mayora just as he wound up to shoot.
When Rooney was on the end of a mirror move down the left he was this time unable to capitalise on the nervy defending of the Suns so the score remained just the solitary goal.
At the other end, City captain Patrick Gatt dealt with everything coming his way and was a powerhouse across the visiting back line.
Travis Major managed to be cautioned with 35’ minutes gone for a slightly late tackle, although the game could hardly be called dirty in any way. His Blacktown teammates looked crisper passing the ball and never tired of running, even against the wind during the first period.
Suns captain Sash Tirovski and City midfielder Kearyn Baccus came together when both miss-timed a challenge for a high ball in the wind, with the former landing awkwardly causing some alarm as he appeared to land on his neck. Thankfully for the midfielder, and those present at the ground, he was able to see out the half after receiving treatment.
Rockdale started the second period much better, however immediately made a change at the break when replacing David Talevski with Seiya Kawamura. It was Tirovski who had the first effort when scuffing a volley just wide in the 47’ minute.
Blacktown responded with a terrific move that saw Ray Miller weaving his way down the left and looking for options with the Suns defence again backing off until he was presented with a scoring opportunity that was fired into the side netting.
Mayora then followed up with an attempt of his own, flashing an effort wide less than 60’’ seconds later.
Tirovski tried his luck again moments later, though this time his clipped shot from the edge of the box was caught by the wind and slipped agonisingly wide for the Suns who were trying everything to regain parity.
Then, the talking point of the match took place as Blacktown increased their lead.
With 59’ minutes on the clock, Barcena comfortably had the ball in his hands and appeared to attempt to throw it out when Harris Gaitatzis pounced. Somehow, the striker not only managed to get the ball, but he kept it and tucked it into the back of the net, much to the chagrin of the Suns faithful who felt the striker had used a hand to unsettle the goalkeeper.
After consultation with the assistant, the referee awarded the goal and from there it was always going to be a long hard struggle for the home team to get anything from the match.
The matter was almost compounded when Miller set off on another run that saw Mayora make a diagonal run across the area, dragging the defence with him that opened up the space for Miller to run into but his shot was wayward and wide when he should have made certain of the points.
Rockdale tried hard but it wasn’t to be as substitute Anthony Perri fired straight at Brody Crane in the final meaningful attempt as the game fizzled out.
Suns coach Branko Culina was unavailable for comment after the game and a club spokesperson stated:
“We knew it would be a tough game today but the wind was stronger than many imagine on the pitch.
“We have a few things to look at and will see to those in training as we look to next weekend.”
Blacktown City coach Mark Crittenden added:
“That was tough but we always knew it was going to be, it always is playing the Suns at their place and the wind didn’t help.
“I didn’t realise just how fierce it was in the middle of the pitch until coming off just now so it really was difficult for both teams and that is why so many passes were going astray.
“We are just happy to take the three-points from a tricky tie and we’ll move on and that about the best I can say about today to be honest.”
Match Stats
Rockdale City Suns 0
Blacktown City FC 2 (Rooney 13’, Gaitatzis 59’)
Sunday 17th March, 2013
Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Referee: Michael Weiner
Assistant Referees: Andrej Giev and Wayne Crabb
Fourth Official: Ben Abraham
Rockdale City Suns: 1.Diego Barcena; 2.Tom Gollins (7.Adam Casey 78’), 10.Richard Cardozo, 5.Brendan Gan (16.Anthony Perri 75’), 8.Paul Kohler, 13.Sam Munro, 6.Takuya Murayama, 23.Askin Oyger, 11.David Talevski (15.Seiya Kawamura 46’), 17.Sash Tirovski (C), 9.Alec Urosevski
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Roberto Speranza, 22.Aaron Liddell
Yellow Cards: Oyger 83’
Red Cards: Nil
Blacktown City FC: 1.Brodey Crane; 12.Kearyn Baccus (9.Ryuji Miyazawa 71’), 3.Andrea Del Brocco, 4.Yianni Fragogiannis, 10.Harry Gaitatzis (18.Osadolor Edosomwan 77’), 5.Patrick Gatt, 6.Matthew Lewis, 7.Travis Major, 15.Matthew Mayora (17.Kieran Paull 80’), 8.Raymond Miller, 11.Sean Rooney
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Blake Tuxford
Yellow Cards: Major 35’, Fragogiannis 53’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Patrick Gatt (BCFC)
2 – Sean Rooney (BCFC)
1 – Sash Tirovski (RCS)
-By Micky Brock
