The Marconi Stallions shared points with Mt Druitt Town Rangers with a 1-1 draw on Saturday night at Marconi’s final home game of the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition.
Connor Evans hit a sensational strike from range in the 56th minute to open the scoring in the game and secure the lead for the home side.
Jack Stewart answered for Mt Druitt in the 82nd minute to bring the visitors back into the game and ultimately secure a point for his team.
It was a slow first half as both sides settled into the match.
The first clear-cut chance for Mt Druitt came in the 20th minute as Fumoto Kamada cut into the area from the left side and John Roberts pulled out a solid save from shot-stopper Nenad Vekic, who dove to guide the ball out of play.
Thomas James came close in the 25th minute for the hosts, but his shot came off Mt Druitt’s defence and out of the path of goal.
Domenic Costanzo took the resultant corner and curled the ball towards the target but Robert Fanella flicked it out of play.
Costanzo took another corner and Fanella punched it out of contention to keep Marconi at bay.
After a relatively uneventful first half, the two teams entered the half-time break without any goals.
The Rangers had an opportunity in the 48th minute from a corner as Solomon-Johnn Monahn-Vaiika tried to recreate his far-post header from last week, however he narrowly missed the target.
Costanzo made a forward run in the 51st minute and came agonisingly close to opening the scoring.
As he moved into the box he took a touch and transferred the ball to his right foot before sending a strike blazing towards the target, but his effort bounced off the woodwork.
The game finally got a goal in the 56th minute as the visitors converted a sensational strike.
The goal was worth the wait as Evans fired from range to place the ball in the top right corner, out of reach of a diving Fanella.
Liam Youlley earned a write up in referee Christian Verdicchio’s book in the 81st minute with a yellow card and gave the visitors a free kick in a dangerous area.
Kamada took the free kick and Vekic managed to get a hand to it, but knocked it forward right into the path of Stewart.
The attacker made no mistake in tapping home the ball from close range to equalise for the Rangers.
Charles Lokolingoy came close to what would have been a cracking goal in the 93rd minute as he attempted a scissor kick which was on its way towards the target, but deflected off a Mt Druitt defender.
Despite both sides creating chances in the final stages, both sides earned a point as the game finished up with a 1-1 draw.
Marconi coach Peter Tsekenis was disappointed his team couldn’t get the result after getting ahead with the opening goal.
“I thought we dominated large parts of the game,” he said.
“Mt Druitt are always dangerous, they’ve got a front four that always attack and we know they can score goals, but I thought we nullified them quite well.
“In every game teams are going to have chances, but I thought we had the majority of them and I thought we had the line of possession, I thought we dominated.
“We got a good goal, got in front and then we’ve got a habit of giving points away and we’ve got to be better in those moments.
“If we want to come first or be Premiers, we’ve got to close out those games and not make errors that give teams a snip to get back in the game.
Lining up against league leaders Manly United on Friday night, Marconi will be looking ahead to prepare for that clash.
“Now we’re two points behind them and it’s more important now to get a result,” Tsekenis explained.
“We’ve just got to focus on a good week of training and go to Manly and get the points.”
Mt Druitt coach Stewart Montgomery was pleased his side was able to maintain their structure and play the type of football they wanted.
“We want to keep playing the way that we’ve set our structure,” he explained.
“We’ve got a really strong back central three, hard-working midfield and really dangerous forwards so for us, it’s about ball possession and I think tonight again we showed that under pressure and a high press from Marconi we kept our nerve and we played through.
“We went 1-0 down to a bomb that I think other than that one strikeI don’t think our goalkeeper had too many saves to make.
“With Marconi you know what you’re going to get here, it’s a physical game, there’s a lot of long balls, a lot of contests so I thought we did well.
“We are on a roll, we’ve had seven games now with only one defeat.
“I’d like a few more wins along the way but we’ve just got to find a way of converting those draws to wins.”
In a less than ideal position on the league ladder, the Rangers have managed to keep their spirits high, something Montgomery credits to the playing squad and their positive attitudes.
“We’re running on a squad of 13 players and a few under 20s stepping up,” he explained.
“Our 20s are doing really well, they’re sitting second on the competition ladder so I don’t want to do too much to disrupt them.
“It’s a very young side as well, there’s a couple of old heads in there which you need when you’ve got such a young squad.
“They’re happy to play together and they’ve embraced the type of football that we want that’s really aggressive in possession to try and score goals, which we do.”
Match Stats
Marconi Stallions FC 1 (Evans 56’)
Mt Druitt Town Rangers FC 1 (Stewart 82’)
Saturday, 25th July, 2022
Marconi Stadium, Bossley Park
Referee: Christian Verdicchio
Assistant Referees: Bradley Wright and Maggie Price
Fourth Official: Jackson Mackie
Marconi Stallions FC: 1. Nenad Vekic, 3. Giorgio Speranza, 4. Roberto Speranza, 6. Domenic Costanzo (17. Martin Fernandez 85’), 8. Connor Evans, 9. Thomas James (7. Christopher Hatfield 64’), 10. Marko Jesic, 11. Charles Lokolingoy, 16. Liam Youlley, 22. Taylor McDonald, 23. Brandon Vella
Substitutes Not Used: 2. Nathan Millgate, 13. Samuel Gulisano, 19. Zach Cairncross, 20. Dion Shaw
Yellow Cards: Jesic 36’, Vella 59’, Youlley 81’, Hatfield 86’
Red Cards: Nil
Mt Druitt Town Rangers FC: 2. Solomon-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika, 7. Jack Stewart, 8. Jason Perez, 9. John Roberts, 11. Fumoto Kamada, 17. Cooper Coskerie, 18. Olayinka Sunmola (19. Bul Juach 63’), 20. Robert Fanella, 21. Tarek Elrich, 22. Rhett Desilva (25. Mohammed Sabbouh 69’), 26. Rocco Fragale
Substitutes Not Used: 15. Brayden Burr, 23. Leonard Abdo, 30. Jerome Narayan, 41. Ivan Sunjic
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil