Six minute goal frenzy sees Suns past Tigers
Rockdale City Suns netted three goals in 6’ frantic second-half minutes to see off APIA-Leichardt Tigers by a 3-1 score line at Lambert Park on Sunday afternoon.
The scene appeared set for a stalemate as neither side carved out any clear cut chances until Themba Muata Marlow, Brendan Gan, and Richard Cardozo netted in quick succession midway through the second period to put the visitors in complete control.
Cardozo was the architect of the win as he provided the assist for the first two goals before hammering the nail into the Tigers’ coffin with a superb bicycle kick.
Nik Taneski pulled a goal back for the Tigers from the spot late on yet it was too little too late as the Suns held on for a win that was marred only by Askin Oygur’s late dismissal.
With its approved upgrade imminent the sides took to a bumpy Lambert Park for the venue’s penultimate match of the season.
The first half-chance of the match fell to the hosts when Suns failed to deal with David D’Apuzzo’s crossed free-kick; the ball fell to debutant Jason Oswell who fired the ball across the face of goal before Bradley Bartels failed to hit the target when the ball ricocheted into his path.
Goal scoring opportunities were few and far between for the remainder of the half as both sides locked horns in a tense midfield battle in which neither side was able to assert control of the park.
Tigers’ next chance was handed to them midway through the half when ‘Birthday Boy’ Franco Parisi was felled on the edge of the box; D’Apuzzo failed to capitalise as he drilled the ensuing free-kick into the wall.
The Suns mustered their first effort on target soon after the half hour mark when Cardozo unconventionally tried to beat Simon Jaeger from the corner; the keeper reacted in the nick of time to punch the ball away for another corner.
Their next chance came from open play when Gan managed to flick the ball over the host’s backline yet Anthony Perri couldn’t get enough power or direction behind his header to trouble Jaeger who made the simplest of saves.
Diego Barcena was called into action for the first time late in the half when Jin Sung Lee crafted his way into the Suns’ box; the Korean import fired a low shot toward the near post to draw a confident save from the visiting custodian.
Neither side could carve out a goal before the interval and looked to step up the intensity in the second half.
While chances were still a rarity the match sprung into life midway through the first-half when Suns hit a quick-fire triple to take complete control of the match.
The first came from the corner after Cardozo’s dangerous free-kick was adjudged to have taken a deflection before dropping inches over the crossbar; substitute Muata Marlow popped up unmarked at the far post to head Cardozo’s following corner into the back of the net to open the scoring.
The goal opened the floodgates as the visitors netted again within a couple of minutes; Tigers let themselves down with their lack of marking from the set piece once again as Gan rose unmarked to head home a well-worked short corner that was again delivered into the box by Cardozo.
The visitors then made it three a few minutes later when Cardozo capped off his fine second half performance with a contender for goal of the season; the ball fell kindly for the talismanic striker to pull off an immaculate bicycle kick from the edge of the box to beat Jaeger and seal the win for Suns.
They came close to scoring a fourth when Gan picked out Toufic Alamedoine with a brilliant ball that put the substitute one-on-one with Jaeger; the keeper spread himself well to put the substitute off as his finish was ushered wide by Michael West.
The hosts perhaps could have forged their way back into the match if it weren’t for a couple of missed opportunities late on as Suns let their opponents back into the match with some late complacency.
Firstly Sean Symons came off the bench before crossing to fellow substitute Keith Shevlin who couldn’t produce the finish required to beat Barcena who recovered well to smother the ball.
Taneski then earned a penalty for the hosts before dusting himself off to take the spot kick; it just wasn’t the Tigers’ afternoon as Taneski saw his powerful penalty hit the crossbar and deflect safety.
Taneski was felled in the box once again soon after, this time sending Barcena the wrong way with a penalty calmly stroked to the keeper’s left.
The goal proved to be no more than a consolation as Suns held on for the win that was soured in the final minute when Oygur saw a straight red for reckless challenge on Taneski.
APIA-Leichhardt Tigers coach Nick Rizzo was left frustrated by the result after things just didn’t go their way in front of goal today once again:
“It seems to be like that for us at the moment,” said Rizzo.
“I thought we were doing quite well and then we copped three goals in 6’ minutes according to the stats.
“It’s very frustrating and now we’re back to the drawing board.
“Other than the overhead kick I thought the other two goals were very soft – it probably wasn’t a corner but at the end of the day we can’t drop our concentration just because a decision goes against us.
“Then we have a few chances that we don’t score and there’s the game.
“The difference between a team like Rockdale and ourselves is that they’re very clinical.
“Again I can’t fault the effort of the boys; they’ve really given everything and we’ll just keep going.
“We’re trying and working hard, still creating chances today but unfortunately we couldn’t score – we even missed a penalty – but if we score the penalty and score the chance before then we’re back in the game and it’s on again.
“I think we’ve somehow got to find goals from somewhere; Taneski is looking good and we’ve got Jason (Oswell) who we signed the other day so things will turn, we’ve just got to keep going.”
Rockdale City Suns coach Branko Culina was glad to see his side get the win over the line in tough conditions yet also expressed his disappointment in his side loosening their grip on the match in the closing stages:
“It’s a battle here,” said Culina.
“You can’t play football here but today we showed the best of Rockdale and the worst of Rockdale.
“The best was when we showed that in the space of a few minutes we can kill teams off but also the last 10’ minutes were pretty ordinary and we showed that we need to maintain the discipline and the structure and the organisation so we were very ordinary.
“We went from outstanding for a period of ten minutes where we just scored some fabulous goals to very ordinary in the last ten minutes.
“The overall game was always going to be difficult – it’s a bit of a lottery due to the conditions – and I don’t think either team enjoyed playing on a pitch like this but you’ve got to do it.
“We had chances but on a pitch like this you’re never going to have lots of opportunities that are clear cut because the ball just is not going to run and it is just not conducive to football.
“We wanted to overload the flanks and make sure that we used the flanks as much as possible because if there is grass here that’s where it was.
“That was where we had more space and better conditions to play in but we didn’t really do it well enough.
“It was just a battle but as I said we showed for a period of 10’ minutes what a good side we can be but I was disappointed with the final ten minutes.”
Match Stats
APIA Leichhardt Tigers 1 (Nik Taneski 88’ (pen) )
Rockdale City Suns 3 (Themba Muata Marlow 68’, Brendan Gan 70’, Richard Cardozo 73’)
Sunday, May 12th, 2013
Lambert Park, Leichhardt
Referee: Stephen Lucas
Assistant Referees: Thomas Lee and Tim Turner
Fourth Official: Katie-Louise Patterson
APIA Leichhardt Tigers: 1.Simon Jaeger; 3.Adel El Jamal, 4.Brendan Reilly, 5.Michael West, 6.Jin Sung Lee (16.Sean Symons 64’), 7.Stephen Kayes, 8.David D’Apuzzo (12.Keith Shevlin 43’), 10.Franco Parisi, 13.Jason Oswell (14.George Khoury 79’), 15.Bradley Bartels, 18.Nikola Taneski
Substitutes Not Used: 11.Nicola Rizzo, 40.Lucas North
Yellow Cards: David D’ Apuzzo 41’, Brendan Reilly 66’
Red Cards: Nil
Rockdale City Suns: 1.Diego Barcena; 5.Brendan Gan, 6.Takuya Murayama, 8.Paul Kohler, 9.Alec Urosevski, 10.Richard Cardozo, 12.Idriss El Hafiane (20.Themba Muata Marlow 58’), 13.Sam Munro, 14.Seiya Kawamura (18.Toufic Alamedoine 69’), 16.Anthony Perri (11.David Talevski 77’), 23.Askin Oygur
Substitutes Not Used: 2.Tom Gollins, 22.Aaron Liddell
Yellow Cards: Idriss El Hafiane 40’
Red Cards: Askin Oygur 90’+2’
Player Ratings:
3 – Richard Cardozo (RCS)
2 – Franco Parisi (ALT)
1 – Brendan Gan (RCS)
-By Michael Shoolman
