The Western Sydney Wanderers NPL 1 Side went down to Rockdale Ilinden in an 8-1 defeat at the Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre over the weekend.
The Wanderers travelled to Rockdale without defender Ricky Fransen and goalkeeper Tristan Vidakovic, hoping to secure back-to-back wins for the first time this season. However, Rockdale Ilinden proved too strong, powering home to claim all three points.
Alaat Abdul-Rahman had the first chance of the game when he found himself one on one with the keeper but unfortunately failed to find the target in the early moments of the game.
Rockdale opened the scoring in the 19th minute, with Ali Auglah pouncing on a loose ball after a parry from Lucas Sinnott. Just five minutes later, Auglah doubled the lead, finishing off a cross from Alec Urosevski. In the 29th minute, Urosevski curled a left-footed strike into the net, before his next effort was spilled by Sinnott — allowing Auglah to complete his first-half hat-trick and give Rockdale a commanding 4-0 lead.
Aidan Simmons got one back just before half time, as he found himself on the end of a Nicholas Sorras misplaced parry to get the Wanderers’ first and only goal of the fixture.
The start of the second half was one to forget for the Wanderers as Nathan Barrie dragged down Urosevski in the box, which saw him get red carded and concede a penalty for a 47th minute double whammy to which saw Urosevski convert his penalty.
Brendan Cholakian then scored Rockdale’s sixth following a great piece of footwork before slotting it into the bottom left corner.
Brae Ovens then converted Rockdale’s sixth and seventh of the game with a tidy finish and a well timed header at the back post.
The loss leaves the Wanderers reflecting on their performance as they will look to go back to the drawing board to avoid a loss of this magnitude once again.
The defeat sees the Wanderers slip back down to fifteenth, as they look to bounce back against St George City who have picked up their first win in four games against Sutherland Sharks this weekend.
