Rovers Move Three Points Clear At The Top
Rochedale Rovers 2 (Aoci 15’, Fellows 90’) Eastern Suburbs 0 HT 1-0 Played at Underwood Park
Rochedale Rovers put a crucial three point gap between themselves and the chasing pack when they beat Eastern Suburbs 2-0 in another excellent game of football at Underwood Park on Saturday evening. The opening goal of the game arrived on the quarter hour mark from the head of Kado Aoci who was first to reach a Seiji Shizuno corner. It seemed the large crowd of supporters were in for a goal-fest but despite plenty of opportunities the scoreboard attendants were not troubled again until Aoci laid off an excellent ball for Sam Fellows who fired home a spectacular finish in the final minute of normal time. The result was not without it’s nervy moments with Scott Fulton coming closest to an equaliser when he slammed a half-volley into the crossbar with less than ten minutes left to play. With Jason Tobin suspended, Rovers were forced to re-shuffle Ryan Stenhouse into the backline alongside Uryu Nagata, a move which proved successful for the former Tiger captain who once again was impressive for his side. On an incident-packed evening, two moments involving Youeil Shol had a lasting impact. Firstly, a one on one opportunity was brilliantly saved by returning hero Mario Aparicio with the score at 0-0 before Shol broke down the left and having gotten the measure of Stenhouse pulled up with a hamstring injury which ruled the in-form striker out of the remainder of proceedings and may yet derail at least part of his season. This fortnight worth of games always threatened to define the year for Rovers and with six points taken from the clutches of Lions and Easts they are now favourites to take out the Flight Centre Premier League title. The Tigers incredible run of success has come to an end with the loss of Abe Yango two weeks ago changing their fortunes but they were unlucky not to get points out of this game, particularly after changing their formation and dominating large swathes of the second half. But despite their statistical domination in the second forty-five minutes, Rochedale were able to suck up the pressure and demonstrate a defensive rigidity which could yet take them to silverware further down the track. With an impressive standard of play all around the park it would possibly be easier to nominate players who weren’t outstanding but special mention should go to Todd Norris for Rovers and Fulton for the Tigers who were hugely influential in their respective roles. One can only feel sorry for Jordan Farina who found himself increasingly isolated up front who has now lost both of his strike partners whilst having close to the best season of his career so far. When all is done and dusted, both teams may look back to this game as the turning point. Of course, the way things have gone so far in 2017, this could all be irrelevant in a month’s time.
Coaches Reactions:
Scott MacNicol (Rochedale Rovers): “Pleased with the result obviously. Thought we controlled the game well until they went to a 3-5-2 and they put us under pressure in the last twenty minutes. We caught them on the break with a good goal but probably missed 3-4 others. Top of the table, so you can’t ask for much more. Steve Glockner (Eastern Suburbs): “It wasn’t our night. It wasn’t our night. What else can I say.”
FB Media Stats:
Possession: 52% - 48% Shots on target: 5 - 8 Shots off target: 9 - 8 Corners: 8 - 4 Free Kicks: 19 - 11
Penalties: 0 - 0 Offside: 1 - 2 Yellow Cards: 1 - 0 Red Cards: 0 - 0
Team line-ups
Rochedale: Aparicio (gk), Norris, Nagata, Stenhouse, Ross, Faichnie, Shizuno, Ortega, Fellows, Aoci, Cameron.
Subs used: Morgan.
Easts: Richards (gk), Romyn, Barnett, Son, Flavin, Sansucie, Fulton, Peut, Sewell, Shol, Farina
Subs used: Burgess. REFEREE: Martin Krenes
