Round Ball Australia 
The Newcastle Jets and Rockdale walking out ahead of their clash in the Australia Cup Round of 32. Photo: Chris Macpherson
On Match Day 2, the Wanderers got their first competitive match under Alen Stajcic out of the way, Adelaide needed extra time to defeat Blacktown City, the Newcastle Jets toppled the NPL NSW Men’s leaders, while Queensland Lions made the most of its trip out west.
Jets hold off a resilient Rockdale side to advance
A second goal for emerging striker Justin Vidic that came in first half stoppage time was enough for Newcastle Jets to secure progression to the Round of 16, as they overcame NSW NPL Men’s club Rockdale Illinden 2-1.
In a game that Rockdale captain Alec Urosevski described as a “beautiful opportunity for the club and the fans but a tough result”, the NPL side did the healthy and raucous crowd no disservice with a constant pressure and presence especially as they pursued the game in the second half.
The home side pushed their chances in general play and from multiple corners in the second half continuously forcing stops from the defensive unit of the Jets.
The Jets were solid to a man but will be looking to build on the game with Kosta Grozos a self described “surprise choice” as captain for the Australia Cup campaign so far, describing the display as “a gutsy performance, and a good stepping stone for the next round of the Cup.”
Grozos paid tribute to the efforts of Vidic in scoring a double and the defensive stand in the second half, headlined by Ryan Scott, Mark Natta and Nathan Grimaldi.
“The backline, they were excellent, an unbelievable effort – Rockdale just kept coming in that second half.”
Chris Macpherson
Adelaide win, but have old problems once again emerged for the Reds?
Adelaide United managed to stumble their way past NPL NSW Men’s side Blacktown City 3-2 in a match that required extra time to find a result.
The Reds looked far from competent for large swathes of the match, with clumsy defending, poor passing and a lack of coherent gameplan, the markers of another performance that United’s fans will have come to recognise as ‘standard’.
The experiment of playing one centre back failed spectacularly for Carl Veart’s men. Adelaide’s lack of quality defenders was on display, with Panashe Madanha exploited by some clumsy efforts in the tackle, and Isaias was burnt for pace on a few occasions by the likes of Danny Choi.
The experimentation didn’t stop there for the Reds, as Veart decided when chasing the game to sub off the only bona fide defender on the pitch in Panagiotis Kikianis for Javi Lopez. The impact that substitution made was so insignificant as to have almost not been worth the effort.
One sub that made things happen was Austin Ayoubi, who came up clutch with assists for both Yaya Dukuly and Luka Jovanovic in extra time to claim the win and make a statement that he deserves more minutes this coming season.
Jacob Stevens
Alen Stajcic gets his time at Wanderers off to a winning start
With Alen Stajcic taking over from Marko Rudan as the coach of the Western Sydney Wanderers, starting on the right foot was always going to be a necessity after his arrival from Perth Glory in the off-season.
It could not have started better, with a corner seeing Nicolas Milanovic get a header away, and while it was initially saved, Gabriel Cleur was able to strike home the rebound for a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute, which would be doubled by Alexander Badolato in the 7th minute, also putting home a rebound.
With Brisbane City finding its way back into the game in the second half, including a 78th minute goal to Noah Maeironi, the side from Sydney’s west would have to hold strong in order to see out the 2-1 victory.
For Wanderers fans, while it may have been against NPL opposition, a result is a result, especially in your first competitive hit-out under a new coach.
With a Round of 16 clash to look forward to, and still approximately two and a half months before the A-League Men season begins, there were plenty of building blocks in this game that started to be developed, and the Wanderers have time to do it and get it right.
Poletti
Queensland Lions get a comfortable victory over Perth RedStar in the rain
Queensland Lions ran away 4-1 victors over Perth RedStar in an all-NPL clash at Percy Doyle Reserve in Western Australia.
Whilst no A-League teams were in action, fans would have recognised the likes of former Perth Glory stars Liam Reddy and Joel Chianese on the RedStar list, the latter making the move to NPL Western Australia after a stint in India with Hyderabad.
Whilst the scoreline would eventually fall against them, it was Perth who got off to the early start, scrappiness inside the box proving fruitful for 19 year old Matthew George, against the run of play it must be said.
From there it was all Lions. A quickfire double just before half-time steadied the nerves of the visitors, before Luke Broderick’s inventive overhead kick brought the game out to 3-1 around the 60th minute mark.
10 minutes later, Alexander Fiechtner’s spectacular long range effort locked up the game and sealed the Lions’ passage through to the Round of 16.
Lachlan Avil