Rampant Rovers Top Table With Dominant Win Over ACE
Rochedale Rovers 4 (Ross 2'; Aoci 4', Shizuno 39'; 71') Albany Creek 1 (Piddick 44') HT 3-1 Played at: Underwood Park
Two blistering goals in the opening four minutes set Rochedale Rovers on their way to a convincing 4-1 win over top four hopefuls Albany Creek on Saturday evening. Tomas Ross ignited the touch paper for Rovers inside the first two minutes when he lashed home a 30 yard strike that left the spectators gasping and Creek keeper Behzad Ariayee-Ravesh no chance as it nestled into the top left corner of the goal. Kado Aoci then proceeded to match that effort two minutes after following a powerful run from Todd Norris that helped work the ball out to the Rovers front man who worked space for himself some 25 yards out and buried the ball in the top right corner with Ariayee-Ravesh again unable to do anything but watch on as the ball flew past him for Rovers second in just four minutes. Creek were shell shocked and for much of the half, were under the pump as the hosts looked hungrier and quicker. On 39 minutes the hosts saw their endeavours reap reward once more as they extended their lead through Seiji Shizuno who was able skip past his opponent before firing a low shot across the face of goal and into the bottom left of the goal. Rovers switched off towards the end of the first half allowing Creek to reduce the deficit against the run of play after Chom Arop had worked his way down the line, slipping in Takeru Saito who got into the box before laying the ball back towards the penalty spot where Adam Piddick was on hand to tap the ball in from close range. Creek emerged for the second half with greater intent and forced Rovers to defend for the opening period of the half but they were unable to penetrate the home side's back line with only a couple of efforts that forced Rovers keeper James Harkin into a making saves. The hosts then began to reassert their dominance with Lewis Cameron proving a handful for the visitors. On 71 minutes Rovers put the game beyond doubt. Aoci worked himself into a good position before curling an effort toward goal which Ariayee-Ravesh saved well from, only to see his parry fall kindly for Shizuno who buried the rebound inside the near post. Moments later it was nearly a fifth for the hosts when Shizuno went in search of his hat trick, seeing his shot just inside the box take a deflection that left Ariayee-Ravesh stranded, but the ball drifted inches wide of the post. With just under ten minutes remaining Aoci made way for Tim Morgan and was seen leaving the game and the ground soon after to make his way to hospital for the birth of his first child. Creek showed little of the form that had seen them enter into this encounter in second spot on the ladder and with Referee Anton Shchetinin calling a halt to proceedings, Rovers deservedly had taken the three points and moved to the top of the Flight Centre Premier League. Whether the two week break had seen Creek off the pace is hard to say but Rochedale were scintillating for large parts of the game - quicker to the ball and hungrier overall and indeed the opening two strikes certainly paved the way to them sealing a valuable win. Watch out Brisbane Strikers who are the next visitors to Underwood Park next week in Preliminary RD5 of the Westfield FFA Cup. Creek must now regroup for next Friday's cup clash against their sister club Moreton Bay Utd for a tie that will hold intrigue throughout the zone with a number of players in both sides having previously played for the other.
Coaches Remarks:
Scott MacNicol - Rochedale Rovers: "We said to the boys we wanted a quick start and I don't think there's been two goals scored as good as those here for a long time. Good first half, very dominant although annoying to concede when we did. We weathered the storm for first ten minutes of second half when we came out but overall I thought we were very good tonight and great for the three points."
Pouria Nabi - Albany Creek: "They started really strong. In the first five minutes, to be honest we didn't expect to concede the two goals, we were shocked and then after that we couldn't get back into it and play our game. End of the day they played good football and deserved the points."
FB Media Player of the Match: Todd Norris (Rochedale Rovers).
The right back was solid throughout including his great assist for Rovers second goal.
FB Media Stats:
Possession: 56% - 44%
Shots on target: 9 - 4
Shots off target: 11 - 5
Corners: 9 - 4
Free Kicks: 9 - 9
Offside: 1 - 0
Yellow Cards: 0 - 0
Red Cards: 0 - 0 Team Line-ups:
Rochedale Rovers: Harkin (gk), Aoci (Morgan 81'), Cameron (Fields 81'), Faichnie, Fellows (Ortega 72'), Nagata, Norris, Ross, Shizuno, Stebhouse, Tobin. Subs: Aparicio (rgk), Fields, Morgan, Ortega. Albany Creek: Ariayee Ravesh (gk), Arop, Brownlie, Byrne (Wust 43'), Gwynne-Jones, Hall, Ismail. Abdul-Azim, Ismail. Abdul-Rahmann (Fujimoto 75'), Maguire, Piddick, Saito. Subs: Gilbert (rgk), Wust, Hammad, Fujimoto, Vesey. Referee: Anton Shchetinin
