![A distressing season ending injury to one of Rockdale's major stars Mathieu Cordier put a dampener on their 4-0 win on Sunday afternoon. Picture John Veage A distressing season ending injury to one of Rockdale's major stars Mathieu Cordier put a dampener on their 4-0 win on Sunday afternoon. Picture John Veage](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/BVddEN2nVNCxFJ4aerD5vY/d0fb7025-0ba3-4a54-8468-1f3c8dbd981f.jpg/r0_0_5315_3543_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Rockdale Ilinden's charge for the 2024 NPL Men's NSW Premiership was overshadowed on Sunday afternoon by a season ending injury to one of its major stars, Mathieu Cordier, at the Ilinden Sports Centre.
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It was an emphatic home team 4-0 victory over rivals Sydney United 58, but in the 13th minute the game was stopped when the devastating injury to Cordier needed an ambulance brought onto the field of play.
United's Liam McGing received his marching orders for the reckless tackle on Cordier, who was treated on the pitch in front of only Rockdale Ilinden supporters.
Before the Sunday fixture Football NSW had advised that away supporters were not to be permitted entry into the Ilinden Sports Centre for the game due to previous crowd issues and police were present.
Bai Antoniou replaced the injured Cordier for Rockdale when play eventually resumed and it meant a backline reshuffle for the visitors who were a man short.
It didn't take long for Rockdale to assert their man advantage when Cholakian blasted home the opener in the 17th minute of actual game time, exploiting their advantage to great effect.
![Distressing scenes whilst Cordier was still on the pitch. Distressing scenes whilst Cordier was still on the pitch.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/BVddEN2nVNCxFJ4aerD5vY/6271b66a-99ad-4889-bbbc-b94157ebeead.jpg/r0_272_5315_3272_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
So Kataoka then toe poked into the net to double their lead and Bai Antoniou added the third on 30 minutes before Kataoka and Alec Urosevski combined to add a fourth all before half-time.
Ilinden Coach, Paul Dee said it was never good to see any player injured like that.
"The players really wanted to do 'Cords' (Mathieu Cordier) proud after the incident and I think they did that.
"We just want to make sure he is ok," he said.
"A four-nil win, three points and a clean sheet is always a good thing but the importance for us is with 'Cords' and a full and speedy recovery."
The result means Ilinden has moved nine points clear at the top of the league ladder, the Marconi Stallions its nearest rivals as the club continued its objective in clinching the premiership.
At the other end of the NPL Men's table NWS Spirit FC have plunged St George FC into the relegation dog-fight thanks to a 2-0 victory at the Ilinden Sports Centre on Saturday -the loss leaves them in 12th one spot in front of Sutherland with six games to play.