Stallions continue its quest for the Premiership with victory over St George City
Marconi Stallions continued its push for the 2023 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s Premiership following a 2-0 victory over St George City at Penshurst Park in Round 19 of the competition on Saturday evening.
Both Stallions goals were from set pieces and they clearly left St George City very disappointed with the outcome. The first was a free-kick to Domenic Costanzo while the second arrived from a corner that Kyle Cimenti headed home.
It was appropriate that before kick-off both teams stood for a minute’s silence to honour and pay homage to the recently deceased Rale Rasic, Australia’s first World Cup finals coach in 1974, as the legendary tactician and friend to all in Football NSW enjoyed some of his best years in club coaching with Marconi.
The game itself at Penshurst Park sparked into life in the 15th minute when a dangerous free-kick from the right by Franco Maya forced some desperation defending and clearing from the Marconi defence, as the heart rate on the Stallions bench jumped a notch.
A short time later a superb corner from the home side found Brendan Hooper lurking with intent at the back post, but his header was narrowly deflected away for another corner.
On the half hour mark Marconi replied with their first real chance of the evening. A majestic free-kick by Costanzo was curled around the wall and finished only a fraction wide of the mark as goalkeeper Jack Kenny found himself at full stretch.
Late in the half, a delightful cross from Pedro Ferrari, St George City’s Brazilian dynamo who played for many years in Italy, reached Kosta Petratos in the box but the latter was smothered out of room by the scrambling Marconi defence and the wonderful chance went begging.
The first stanza of play finished scoreless a short time later.
The second half’s first real opportunity belonged to St George City and it arrived in the 53rd minute on the counter-attack. Ferrari got involved in the attack by sprinting into the box and found Presley Ortiz who fired just wide from close range.
Marconi though who looked to be under all the pressure took the lead in the 57th minute. A diagonal long distance free kick from the right by Costanzo bounced roguishly in the box and ended up straight into the back of the net past ‘keeper Kenny and a bewildered St George defence.
A few minutes later a perfectly bouncing ball favoured Jordan Swibel who, from a great position in the box, volleyed just over the crossbar in what could have been Marconi’s second there and then.
In the 70th minute Marconi came very close again when a short free-kick was passed back to Costanzo who, from an almost identical position from where he scored, fired a rocket towards goal that shaved the crossbar and ended up over thanks to a slight touch by the goalkeeper.
A minute later however Marconi did score again when the ensuing corner by Hiroaki Aoyama was perfect for Cimenti who headed home through a crowded box.
St George City made a plethora of late substitutions to spark life back into their game but the horse had well and truly bolted and the home side ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
Post-match Marconi Stallions coach Peter Tsekenis was very satisfied with the three points.
“Definitely happy tonight because it was a tough game against tough opposition,” he stated.
“They are really tough to beat here but I thought we were quite solid.
“The game didn’t have many chances and, as it was, we scored two goals from set pieces but big games are won on set pieces.
“We didn’t concede and we kept a good attacking side to a minimum. We pride ourselves on clean sheets but it’s really all about scoring goals, so we don’t just go out and aim for nil-all because we want to always score goals.
“Next week we have APIA Leichhardt at home and this is what you play for. We want to challenge for the Premiership and it’s going to be a big game against our arch-rivals and everything is up for grabs.”
St George City coach Mirko Jurilj was disappointed with another game that slipped away.
“Oh dear two set pieces is all they had but credit to them,” he said.
“I am very disappointed because we had a few good chances, especially in the first half. Once again though it is all about execution.
“Players can go into whatever shape and system you want, but in the end it all comes down to execution. Both goals were preventable and from our end that’s not good enough, and that’s been our undoing with errors this season.”
Match Stats
St GEORGE CITY: 0
MARCONI STALLIONS: 2 (Costanzo 57’, Cimenti 72’)
Saturday 10th June 2023
Penshurst Park
Referee: Nathan Shakespear
Assistant Referees: Aaron Bloch and Thomas Dale
Fourth Official: Jackson Tippett
St GEORGE CITY: 12. Jack Kenny, 2. Pedro Ferrari, 4. Brendan Hooper (3. Daniel Alessi 74’), 6. Tarik Ercan (10. Paolo Mitry 86’), 8. Dominic Cox, 11. Kosta Petratos, 14. Dean Pelekanos (9. Marley Peterson 74’), 23. Franco Maya, 30. Presley Ortiz (7. Nathan Roberts 86’) , 70. Maki Petratos, 99. Matthew Keremelevski.
Substitutes not used: 25. Andrew Vlahadamis, 51. Salvatore Glinatsis.
Yellow Cards: Ferrari 49’, Hooper 63’, Alessi 91’
Red Cards: Nil
MARCONI STALLIONS: 24. James Hilton, 2. Nathan Millgate, 3. Giorgio Speranza, 5. Liam McGing, 6. Domenic Costanzo (21. Justin Vidic 88’), 8. Hiroaki Aoyama, 9. Jordan Swibel, 10. Marko Jesic (7. Chris Hatfield 92’), 11. Daniel Bouman, 19. Kyle Cimenti, 22. Taylor McDonald.
Substitutes not used: 13. Aleksandar Duricic, 17. Martin Fernandez, 23. Brandon Vella, 40. Aaron Hage.
Yellow Cards: Millgate 24’, Costanzo 41’, McGing 44’, Hilton 94’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Domenic Costanzo (MS)
2 – Nathan Millgate (MS)
1 – Matthew Keremelevski (StG)
By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo
