Farah Koko’s second half strike rescued a point for Manly United as they shared the spoils with a 1-1 draw against Rockdale Ilinden at a rainy Cromer Park.
Rockdale began in roaring fashion and young gun Jordan Graoroski opened the scoring after just two minutes. Isaac Danzo found Graoroski with a brilliant ball into the box, before he beat a defender and found the bottom corner for a classy opening goal.
This kick-started several close chances for both teams. The hosts were next five minutes later, as Harry McCarthy landed a shot inches wide from goal after some creative build-up play from Harry Van Der Saag.
Then in the 22nd minute, Rockdale who nearly struck gold after Ali Auglah’s pass across the face of goal wasn’t cleared, with Graoroski unable to convert from close range.
As the game rose in intensity it was Rocco Pelle who conjured up a goal-saving tackle on Auglah in the 34th minute. Auglah was then given his marching orders for an off the ball incident involving Pelle, changing the complexion of the match.
With an extra player, the hosts drew level via Farah Koko in the 54th minute. Harry McCarthy saw his effort palmed away by Nicholas Sorras, before Darcy Burgess’ neat pass found Koko, who smashed the ball into the back of the net.
Chances kept coming and Blake Ricciuto nearly forged something out of nothing in the 66th minute. With a Rockdale free kick seemingly going out of play, Ricciuto came close to connecting his body with the ball but fell at the last hurdle. Rockdale were again denied in the 74th minute by an impressive one-handed save from Levi Kaye.
Both Alec Urosevski and Lucas Meek came close to scoring during the frantic closing minutes, but it wasn’t to be for either side as the final whistle blew and the points were shared.
Rockdale coach Paul Dee lamented the red card and two dropped points.
“Considering the circumstances with the man down I thought the boys fought hard and we deserved a point.
“We came here with a game plan to go all-out attack.
“Unfortunately being a player down forced us to change our structure and defend more.
“We showed a lot of resilience when the chips were down and ultimately on another day we could have gotten the win.”
Manly United 1 (Farah Koko 54’)
Rockdale Illinden 1 (Jordan Graoroski 2’)
Match Stats
Friday 09 May 2025
Cromer Park
Referee: Stephen Lucas
Assistant Referees: Blake Eastwood and Matt Staples
Fourth Official: Thomas Dale
Manly United: 1.Levi Kaye, 3.Matthew O’Donoghue, 4.Jesse Piriz, 6.Bilal Belkadi, (8.Stefano Rossello 71’), 10.Harry McCarthy, 11.Lucas Meek, 12.Rocco Pelle, (13.Taiga Kawano 71’), (14.Maxwell Pengelly 85’), (16.Max Martinello 71’), 23.Darcy Burgess, 26.Harry Van Der Saag, (28.Jasper Chipman 58’), 33.Aaron O’Driscoll, 38.Farah Koko
Unused subs: 1.Anthony Carreras
Yellow cards: Darcy Burgess 64’
Red cards: None
Rockdale Illinden: 1.Nicholas Sorras, 2.Hunter Elliott, 5.Giorgio Speranza, 6.Isaac Danzo, 7.Alec Urosevski, (9.Moudi Najjar 65’), 10.Brendan Cholakian, 14.Brayden Sorge, (17.Brae Ovens 85’), 18.Jordan Graoroski, 22.Blake Ricciuto, 24.Ali Auglah, 88.Christoper McStay
Unused subs: 4.James Nikolovski, 11.Lochlan Constable, 20.Rowan Mulgrew, 23.Oliver Puflett
Yellow cards: Paul Dee 40’, Alec Urosevski 52’
Red cards: Ali Auglah 34’
Player Ratings:
3: Jordan Graoroski (Rockdale)
2: Rocco Pelle (Manly)
1: Blake Ricciuto (Rockdale)
-By Football NSW
