Rainbird screamer lights up score draw at Marconi
Marconi Stallions and Manly United played out a 1-1 draw at Marconi Stadium on Saturday night in Round 7 of the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition.
In a game that could be best described with the old cliché ‘game of two halves’, Manly United tended to have the better of the first half, while Marconi clearly won the second stanza of play.
A spectacular goal to Lucas Rainbird was cancelled out by a Taylor McDonald finish to give the sides a goal apiece.
It was a crucial three points for Marconi that went begging in some ways, even though they have a game in hand as the Stallions face the daunting task of playing four games in two weeks: Blacktown City, Manly United, Sydney United 58 FC and Mount Druitt Town Rangers – as well as an FFA Cup clash.
Both goals arrived in the first half but the game didn’t produce much in the early minutes as fans needed to wait until the 20th minute for some real action when a free kick by Seiya Kambayashi struck the wall and narrowly missed the post, before ending up as a corner.
Two minutes later Bruno Mendes danced his way into the box before Nathan Millgate thwarted a certain goal with a well-timed tackle.
After these failed chances Manly United took the lead in the 29th minute with a great goal from Rainbird that will surely make the highlights reel at the end of the season as a ‘Goal of the Year contender’.
It was some goal from a long distance after two clear chances in the lead-up had gone begging.
A close ranger header by Mendes was saved by the ‘keeper before another shot was blocked and the ball eventually reached Rainbird who struck with aplomb and there was nothing that Nenad Vekic could do to prevent the thunderbolt from hitting the top corner of the net.
Luca Kmet tried his luck with a spectacular diagonal shot in the 35th minute that Vekic beautifully turned away for a corner and Marconi breathed a sigh of relief.
In the 38th minute Marconi equalised when a spectacular ball into the box from the right by Marko Jesic reached McDonald in the middle who fired home from close range. It was arguably Marconi’s first real chance but that was all they needed to even the ledger.
With the confidence of the goal under their belt, Marconi started to dominate proceedings.
It was Domenic Costanzo in the 40th minute who shot from the left but the ball narrowly sailed over the crossbar.
Right at the end of the first half a corner by Costanzo reached McDonald who headed straight towards goal only to see it cleared off the line by a Manly United defender who was well-positioned.
The first chance of the second stanza of play was in the 51st minute when a Costanzo corner reached Nathan Millgate who headed straight into the crossbar, much to the despair of the Marconi faithful who thought that the home side had taken the lead.
The next real chance didn’t arrive until the 79th minute when a precise Charles Lokolingoy cross from the left reached Chris Hatfield who, from close range, volleyed just a fraction wide.
A minute later, a spectacular Jesic shot struck a deflection and ended up on the post as once again the woodwork came to the rescue of the visitors.
A few minutes later Lokolingoy ran through the middle of the defence only to see his well-timed shot saved by the opposition goalkeeper.
After these very close encounters for the home side, Manly United had a late chance when a corner narrowly missed Alen Aganovic at the far post.
After the game Marconi coach Peter Tsekenis was still proud of his team and their efforts, even though he was disappointed not to have claimed all three points.
“In the first half they had only a short flurry on our goal and they got a goal,” he said.
“It was a really good goal but once we got our goal back, I thought that we controlled the game.
“Especially in the second half we played some great football, but just our finishing was not falling for us in front of goal.
“In terms of performance, we finished the game stronger, especially after a tough midweek game against Blacktown.
“We have a number of games in two weeks and we’ll manage that.
“We are not full-time footballers like the A-League, but we will just take our catch-up games as they come and the boys showed today that we should have won the game and I am proud of the team again.”
His counterpart at Manly United, Adam Griffiths, was also proud of his team and somewhat satisfied with the point too.
“It was a messy game but we had some good moments in the first half,” he stated.
“Our goal came from some really nice football but we copped a goal where we lost focus which then gave them confidence.
“The second half became messy and that played into their hands and they caused us some troubles.
“We are depleted at the moment as we have a lot of big players out but we are still getting good results against some of the better teams in the competition.”
Match Stats
Marconi Stallions FC 1 (McDonald 38’)
Manly United FC 1 (Rainbird 29’)
Saturday, 16th April, 2022
Marconi Stadium, Bossley Park
Referee: Hassan Jomaa
Assistant Referees: Matthew Staples and Joel Crawford
Fourth Official: Eric Saba
Marconi Stallions: 1. Nenad Vekic, 2. Nathan Millgate, 3. Giorgio Speranza, 4. Roberto Speranza (19. Zac Cairncross 46’), 6. Domenic Costanzo (17. Martin Fernandez 62’), 8. Connor Evans, 9. Thomas James (7. Chris Hatfield 74’), 10. Marko Jesic, 11. Charles Lokolingoy, 22. Taylor McDonald (13. Sam Gulisano 74’), 23. Brandon Vella (16. Liam Youlley 62’)
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Dion Shaw
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Card: Nil
Manly United: 17. Zenden Hart, 2. Kieran Paull, 3. Jesse Piriz, 4. Jimmy Oates, 5. Tom Fay, 7. Seiya Kambayashi, 10. Luca Kmet (28. Thomas Chidiac 56’, 20. Marcus Lal 83’), 12. Finn Ashton (8. Dom Ferguson 60’), 18. Lucas Rainbird, 19. Alen Aganovic, 22. Bruno Mendes
Substitutes not used: 24. Mitch Mattison, 31. Max Martinello
Yellow Cards: Rainbird 38’, Oates 68’, Mendes 93’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Taylor McDonald (MS)
2 – Nenad Vekic (MS)
1 – Bruno Mendes (MU)
By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo
