Olympic grab confidence boosting win over Stallions

Sydney Olympic secured a vital 2-1 victory over Marconi Stallions at Marconi Stadium on Saturday evening.

Two goals to Olympic’s Darcy Burgess and Oliver Puflett in the first stanza of play sealed the deal for the visitors before a very late consolation by Charles Lokolingoy.

The early chances of the game fell to Marconi.

In the 7th minute a cross from the right reached Marko Jesic just outside the box and he fired just wide of the mark.

A minute later Jesic was at it again and this time he unleashed a long range diagonal shot that also just missed the target.

In the 16th minute Domenic Costanzo sent a long ball down field that reached Lokolingoy but the crafty Marconi attacker could only find the side netting with his attempt.

However, it was Sydney Olympic that took lead with their first real chance of the game.

The ball made its way from the left to Roy O’Donovan who fired into a Marconi player and the fortunate rebound reached Darcy Burgess who, in the 21st minute, fired straight into the back of the net with a nicely timed shot.

Sydney Olympic made it two shortly afterwards.

From a corner the ball was driven towards the Marconi goal only for Nenad Vekic to parry it away.

His rejection went only as far as Oliver Puflett who drilled home for the visitors much to the dismay of the Marconi faithful.

Marconi then tried to get one back before the break and in the 37th minute a precise cross from Jesic on the left reached Nathan Millgate in the box, but his header was well saved by Nicholas Sorras.

Just before the break a corner by Costanzo reached Millgate at the far post and once again his header was well turned away by Sorras ever alert between the sticks.

In stoppage time a thunderbolt from Sam Gulisano from some distance was well blocked by Sorras and in the end, despite the greater number of chances, Marconi couldn’t penetrate the Olympic goal and went into the break two goals down.

The first opportunity of the second stanza of play belonged to Marconi on the hour mark when Gulisano from distance again fired wide with a volley.

In the 75th minute Burgess on the turn from inside the box fired just over for Olympic and Marconi replied late in the game with a header by Taylor McDonald that ended up just wide of the post.

In stoppage time Marconi scored a consolation goal.

A corner reached Zac Cairncross in the box and his header went crashing into the crossbar and Lokolingoy jogging on the spot made sure the ball crossed the line as he bundled it over but it was too little, too late for Marconi.

After the encounter Sydney Olympic’s coach Ante Juric said that he was happy to have come away with all three points.

“I was an intense game and high energy from both teams” he said.

“Marconi were aggressive on the ball so to play with that intensity which we did was very pleasing.

“We are starting to really build this camaraderie and you could see by the energy that everyone ran and everyone works for each other. We still need to work on a few things in possession but I was very pleased overall.”

Marconi’s coach Peter Tsekenis, himself a former Sydney Olympic great, was disappointed with the loss.

“I thought in the first half we were pretty good,” he said.

“We didn’t capitalise and we conceded two goals, one a deflection and one a set-piece.

“The second half was probably a non-event for both teams. Our goal was too late to get back in the game.

“You need to take your chances when you are on top. They had one shot in the first half and they scored two goals because one was a deflection that was off target. It’s disappointing because we are not finishing our chances and we were chasing the game.”

Match Stats

Marconi Stallions 1 (Lokolingoy 91’)

Sydney Olympic 2 (Burgess 21’, Puflett 27’

Saturday 2nd April 2022

Marconi Stadium, Bossley Park

Referee: Adrian Arndt

Assistant Referees: Joon Park, Cameron Wright

Fourth Official: Matthew Staples

Marconi Stallions: 1. Nenad Vekic, 2. Nathan Millgate, 3. Giorgio Speranza, 6. Domenic Costanzo, 7. Chris Hatfield (9. Thomas James 62’), 10. Marko Jesic, 11. Charles Lokolingoy, 13. Sam Gulisano (17. Martin Fernandez 75’), 16. Liam Youley (23. Brandon Vella 75’), 19. Zac Cairncross, 22. Taylor McDonald

Substitutes Not Used: 4. Roberto Speranza, 8. Connor Evans, 20. Dion Shaw

Yellow Cards: McDonald 59’, Cairncross 80’

Red Card: Nil

Sydney Olympic: 1. Nicholas Sorras, 4. Ben Van Meurs, 5. Michael Glassock, 7. William Angel, 8. Sam McIlhatton (24. Hagi Gligor 85’), 9. Oliver Puflett, 10. Adam Parkhouse, 17. Marley Peterson (22. Fabio Ferreira 72’), 19. Darcy Burgess (21. Chan Deng 89’), 23. Daniel Dias, 99. Roy O’Donovan

Substitutes not used: 15. Kristofer Nicolaou, 20. Chris Parsons, 36. Peter Politis

Yellow Cards: Peterson 37’, Glassock 59’, Gligor 94’

Red Card: Nil

Player Ratings

3 – Darcy Burgess (SO)

2  – Domenic Costanzo (MS)

1 – Nicholas Sorras (SO)

By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo