Sydney United 58 FC have qualified for the 2015 Waratah Cup final after a 3-2 victory over Rockdale City Suns in a thrilling match last night.
The entertaining semi final at Sydney United Sports Centre had everything: five goals, eight yellow cards and two red cards.
The match started as a physical affair with both sides trying to outmuscle each other in the early challenges.
Sydney United 58 midfielder Chris Triantis created the first chance in the 5th minute, and it was he who eventually opened the scoring.
After great lead up play,Theo Kofinas’s cross from the right found a waiting Triantis inside the box and he easily tapped the ball into the bottom left hand corner.
The lead wouldn’t last long however as the match turned on its head four minutes later.
United 58 were first reduced to 10 men as Kofinas turned from hero to villain after receiving a second yellow card.
Marko Jesic stepped up to score the resulting free kick which deflected off the United 58 wall, wrong footing keeper Justin Pasfield.
The goal sparked Rockdale into gear as they peppered United 58’s defence in numbers as Tanoski and Jesic combined for a second time in the 32nd minute with the latter’s volley swinging wide of the left hand upright.
Jesic would not make a mistake the next time around as he put his side ahead for the first time in the match on 40 minutes.
The game would take a wicked twist in the 64th minute however when Rockdale were reduced to 10 men after goalkeeper David Bradesevic was shown a straight red card.
Suns coach Paul Reid was forced to replace attacker Toufic Alameddine with reserve keeper Aleksander Visnic.
Unfortunately for the keeper his first job was to pick the ball up from the back of the net as Chris Triantis dribbled through the Rockdale defence before slotting the ball into the bottom left hand corner to make it 2-2 in the 69th minute.
The tide had truly turned as United 58 took a 3-2 win in the 78th minute with captain Stjepan Paric meeting a long throw in to head the ball over a diving Visnic.
Following the match Sydney United 58 captain Stjepan Paric said he was proud of his side’s come from behind win.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“It was a tough match and we are all very happy to get into the final,” he said.[/social_quote]
“It was a privilege to be able to lead the boys and win the match.”
– By Chris Georges
