It was Sydney Olympic’s Teng Kuol’s 95th-minute winning goal that melted the hearts of Rockdale Ilinden in their thrilling 2-1 victory at Netstrata Jubilee Oval in a thrilling match on Sunday.

Ilinden did not capitalize on their chances, as the Blues were able to capitalize on those chances when needed and won. With that, they are back in the final round of the series. However, due to the loss of Rockdale, their lead over rival Marconi has been reduced to six points.

The first real chance of the match came right after kick-off when the ball fell nicely into the hands of Giorgio Speranza and he fired on goal, but Christopher Parsons made two saves.

The spectators then had to wait until the 22^nd minute for the next chance of the game. Sydney Olympic made a nice move from midfield and down the left before the ball was centred for Roy O’Donovan, but his instinctive shot was well blocked by the Rockdale defence.

There wasn’t much penetration from either side in the exciting match at this point. On the half hour it was Speranza for the visitors who made another attempt from just outside the penalty area, but the ball drifted slowly wide of the goal.

A few minutes later, Bai Antoniou should have found the net for Rockdale Ilinden. After receiving a pinpoint cross from the right, he unfortunately skied the ball in from close range for the Red and Blacks.

In the 38^e At one point Brendan Cholakian, who had no choice, had to try a bicycle kick. In fairness, I have to say it wasn’t a bad shot as the ball went just wide.

In the 40’s^e The breakthrough finally came Rockdale’s way in the first minute and it was no more than they deserved as they clearly pressed high and forced Olympic onto the wrong foot at this stage of the game. Sydney Olympic lost the ball in defence after some high pressing from Lachie Constable and it was then up to Dean Pelekanos to make the most of the spoils and fire the ball home from a central position.

In injury time at the end of the first phase of the match, Rockdale should have scored their second goal. A close-range effort from Isaac Danzo miraculously hit the post, with ‘keeper Parsons beaten’, and Pelekanos then fired his effort just wide.

Towards the end, the tension between the two teams threatened to rise a bit and yellow cards were shown to Parsons of Olympic and Antoniou of Ilinden, while experienced whistleblower Michael Weiner did well to keep things under control.

After the break, the first chance for Rockdale was in the 61^st A minute later, Antoniou’s diagonal shot from the left went painfully wide.

A few minutes later, Hunter Elliott’s cross from the right to Urosevski in the middle was just a bit too much of a good thing and the visiting captain couldn’t beat Parsons with his possession.

Sydney Olympic managed to tie the score in the 1969s^e minute. Rockdale were caught out in defence by Adam Parkhouse who won the ball and found O’Donovan unmarked and the Irish marksman made no mistake with only the keeper to beat.

In the 86^e A minute later, substitute Yinka Sunmola’s shot was well saved by Parsons low to his left as Rockdale recovered in an attempt to regain the lead.

A minute later Elliott hit the side netting as he moved towards the byline and ran out of space on the left.

In the 90s^e minute a cross from the left reached Daniel Collins in the middle, but his header went just wide

and for Rockdale it looked like it wasn’t going to be their night.

And in the 94^e minute that is exactly what happened when Sydney Olympic scored the winning goal. A cross from Michael Vakis found Teng Kuol in the middle and the ever-alert substitute slotted it home.

After the match, Sydney Olympic coach Labinot Haliti was very pleased with the result.

“They were good in the first half,” he said.

“In the second half we wanted it more and it showed. So credit to them in the first half, but you have to credit us for the second half.

“We perform every week and sometimes the results are disappointing, but it is the character of our team that counts.

“This victory was for the boys, the chairman, the CEO and the whole club, because it is a team effort.”

In the dressing room of Rockdale Ilinden the mood was more somber and coach Paul Dee was very gracious about his defeat.

“Kudos to them for their perseverance, but it’s hard for us not to look back on the first half,” he said.

“That game shouldn’t have been exciting enough to make them come back, but hey, if you don’t convert chances, that’s the result.

“The first half showed that we have a very good playing style and we just have to keep repeating that for the rest of the season.”

Match statistics

SYDNEY OLYMPIC GAMES: 2 (O’Donovan 69′, Kuol 90’+4)

ROCKDALE ILINDEN: 1 (Pelekanos 40′)

Sunday 21^st July 2024

Jubilee Stadium, Kogarah

Referee: Michael Weiner
Assistant referees: Brad Wright, Emma Kocbek

Fourth official: Mikayla Ryan

SYDNEY OLYMPIC FC: 20. Christopher Parsons, 2. Peter Politis, 4. Michael Glassock, 5. Zygmund Gordon, 9. Oliver Puflett (14. Michael Vakis 59′), 10. Darcy Burgess (6. Jack Simmons 46′), 11. Adam Parkhouse , 12. Zachary Zoricich, 15. William Mutch (18. Teng Kuol 46′), 29. George Antonis (19. Gianni Di Pizio 63′), 99. Roy O’Donovan.

Unused substitutes: 1. Montgomery Partington, 8. Sam McIllhatton.

Yellow cards: Zoricich 34′, Parsons 45’+2, Di Pizio 66′, Politis 71′

Red cards: Zero

ROCKDALE ILINDEN FC: 1. Nicholas Sorras, 3. Lachlan Griffiths, 5. Giorgio Speranza, 6. Isaac Danzo, 7. Alec Urosevski, 8. Dean Pelekanos (15. Yinka Sunmola 72′), 9. Bai Antoniou (77. So Kataoka 72′) , 10. Brendan Cholakian (2. Daniel Collins 80′), 11. Lachie Constable (17. Brae Ovens 86′), 22. Blake Ricciuto, 23. Hunter Elliott.

Unused substitutes: 4. Roberto Speranza, 20. Riccardo Rizzo.

Yellow cards: Antoniou 45’+2, Griffiths 55′

Red cards: Zero

Player Ratings

3 – Michael Glassock (SO)

2 – Blake Ricciuto (RI)

1 – Zygmund Gordon (SO)

By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo