A spirited Rockdale City have seen their FFA Cup journey come to an end with a 4-2 defeat to Sydney FC.
The NPL 1 club gave an excellent account of themselves on the national stage in the FFA Cup round of 32 on Wednesday night.
It was an even first half before the A-League heavyweights took control after half-time.
It was a historic night for the Suns, with almost 4,500 fans packing into the Ilinden Sports Centre to witness what Rockdale player-coach Paul Reid described pre-game as the biggest match in the club’s 49-year history.
The Suns shocked Sydney, taking the lead after just six minutes through a Harris Gaitatzis goal.
Toufic Alameddine caused Michael Zullo problems down the right before rolling a ball through for Gaitatzis, with the attacking midfielder sweeping a looping finish over a stranded Andrew Redmayne.
The match settled down with no other real clear cut chances in the first 20 minutes before Sydney speedster Trent Buhagiar got in behind Rockdale’s back four, only to put his finish over the bar.
Buhagiar was in again a minute later but new loan signing Daniel De Silva could only blaze the cut back over.
Rockdale were struggling to assert themselves, with a half-hearted penalty appeal from Gaitatzis as close as they came.
Sydney were rewarded for their dominance when De Silva equalised on the half hour mark.
A Sky Blues corner was headed half clear to De Silva on the top of the box, with the former Central Coast attacker striking a sumptuous first time volley into the top corner past Ante Covic.
Buhagiar was causing Rockdale havoc, this time hitting the post after being played in by De Silva.
Suns fullback Brayden Sorge was booked for a strong challenge on Zullo just before half-time, with Rockdale proving they could compete with the FFA Cup holders with an impressive first 45 minutes.
But a disastrous start to the second half saw Sydney FC blow the Suns away.
Ben Warland flicked a header past Covic from close range three minutes after the break to give Sydney the lead.
Alex Brosque extended the advantage three minutes later after being beautifully played in by Milos Ninkovic, with Brosque poking the ball home under Covic.
Brosque added his second and Sydney’s fourth midway through the half, side footing home from a Buhagiar cross after some good build up from Ninkovic.
But Rockdale refused to give up, with Alameddine rewarded for his excellent performance.
The winger side footed home past Redmayne to give Rockdale hope with 14 minutes to play.
The Suns could have had a third shortly after when substitute Jonathan Grozdanovski forced a quality save from Redmayne after burning past Aaron Calver.
The Sky Blues lost Redmayne to injury with five minutes remaining when Suns midfielder Blake Ricciuto landed on the keeper from a corner, allowing Aleks Cisak a late run out.
Reid, who also works for Sydney FC as their community football officer, said after the game he was proud of his side’s performance.
“It is a good effort against the A-League premiers. We got off to a great start but I guess the quality showed in the end,” he said.
“It was great. Obviously when the draw came out I couldn’t believe it. It was the dream draw really. I was talking about it in the week leading up to the game how good it would be.
“Our youngsters put in a really good performance tonight. It was great that we had nearly 4,500 here tonight and I think they witnessed a decent game.”
The Suns will turn their attention to securing an NPL 1 finals place when they take on Hakoah Sydney City East in the penultimate round on Sunday.
Leader Scoreboard
Rockdale City 2 (Harris Gaitatzis, Toufic Alameddine)
defeated by
Sydney FC 4 (Alex Brosque 2, Daniel De Silva, Ben Warland)
at Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Crowd: 4,489
Leader man of the match: Daniel De Silva (Sydney FC)