( BOTN Photo Mark Taylor)

At a sun-drenched Seymour Shaw on Sunday, the Sutherland Shire Sharks quashed Rockdale City Sun’s slim hopes of playing finals football with a resounding 3-1 victory that saw the Sharks themselves leapfrog Rockdale and finish the season in 6th position.

Rockdale were determined from the outset with a lot of early running and nothing short of a victory would satisfy them to grab the elusive 5th place. However, they had it all to do when they gave away a penalty in the 13th minute when Pece Cvetanovski brought down Ben Spruce in the box. Jim Bakis calmly stepped up and slotted the ball home to give the Sharks the lead.

Both teams had a few half-chances in the opening stanza but in the last minute of the half, Rockdale had their hearts broken when Neil Jablonski broke down the left and fired the ball into the back of the net to give sutherland a 2-0 lead.

Rockdale came out fighting after the break with Sam Awad striking the post in the 57th minute. Five minutes later they were gifted a chance to get back into the game with a penalty but unfortunately for the Suns, Sutherland keeper Nathan Denham guessed right and saved Adam Kir’s well-struck shot.

Awad finally got onto the scoresheet to give Rockdale’s ailing season a glimmer of hope with a nicely headed goal in the 81st minute but alas, Ben Vdaic, who had looked strong up front all day for Sutherland, bagged the Shark’s 3rd just 2 minutes later. It was bad luck for Rockdale to come up against the reigning champions in their last game but they would have to be be well satisfied with their final position after just one season back in the top-flight after coming up from Super League.

In Grade-20 result:
In Grade-18 result: