A Harris Gaitatzis double has kept Rockdale City’s season alive as the Suns scored a 2-0 victory over Blacktown City in their elimination semi-final on Saturday night.
The Suns will now take on heavyweights APIA Leichhardt in another do or die clash this weekend having advanced to week two of the finals.
Rockdale arrived at Lily’s Football Centre knowing their campaign was on the line having sneaked into the NPL 1 finals on the final day of the regular season.
Two goals in two minutes for Gaitatzis just before the half hour mark gave Rockdale a two-goal cushion, a lead they would not squander.
Fresh from his goal against Sydney FC in Rockdale’s FFA Cup round of 32 clash earlier this month, Gaitatzis took advantage of some slack defending from a throw to fire the visitors in front from the edge of the box.
A minute later Gaitatzis had scored again. Yianni Spyrakis bundled over Alec Urosevski in the penalty area, allowing Gaitatzis the chance to coolly double the Suns’s lead from the penalty spot.
Gaitatzis was denied a hat-trick after he struck the bar, with Aleksandar Canak also hitting the woodwork as Rockdale held on for a comfortable victory.
Rockdale player-coach Paul Reid was delighted with the victory and the performance of his side.
“I think sometimes we’re a team who needs to learn when to press and that’s sometimes why we concede so many goals,” he said.
“When we’ve come up against Blacktown in recent years there’s been goals galore. It’s been end to end and they’re the sort of team that like that.
“We had to adjust a bit tonight to not make the game like that because they’ve got very good players in attack and if you give them too much space they can punish you.
“We stuck to a game plan tonight and it really did work. The boys put in a great shift and all credit to them because they deserve it.”
Rockdale will take plenty of confidence into the clash with APIA, while the Tigers will need to bounce back quickly from their controversial penalty shootout loss to 10-man Sydney United 58.
Meanwhile, Sutherland suffered a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Sydney FC in their under-20s semi-final.
The Sharks now face Sydney United 58 in an elimination final this weekend.
Rockdale also advanced in the under-18s competition, eliminating Blacktown City 5-4 on penalties after playing out a scoreless draw.
The young Suns will now play Sydney FC for a place in the grand final this weekend.
