Sharks push Stallions to the limit
Sutherland Sharks halted Marconi Stallions’ Premiership run with a scoreless 0-0 draw on a cold Saturday evening at Seymour Shaw Park.
It was a positive result for Sharks’ interim coach Panny Nikas who took over from Damir Prodanovic following his move to the A-League after being appointed as the assistant coach for the Newcastle Jets midweek.
The opening moments brought the expected attack and counter as each looked to find the early strike in a tense cat and mouse affair although the visitors were pushing higher upfield and looked the more adventurous.
Sharks keeper Marko Bulic needed to parry out shots from Daniel Bouman and Matthew Hatch from both the right and left sides of the box, in quick succession in the 18th minute with the Sharks defence stretched.
Hiroaki Aoyama stole the ball on the edge of the area before rounding a defender but lifted his shot over both Bulic and the bar.
Sutherland, having conceded just 23-times in 21-previous games, were proving a tough nut to crack during the 2023 campaign but the Stallions thought they had the lead on 25 minutes from a Marko Jesic free-kick that snuck past the wrong side of the upright and rippled the net.
Nathan Millgate was deemed to have committed a foul on the edge of his area that Jonty Busch fired wide of the target on the half-hour, the best opportunity Sutherland had had in the half.
Mitch Stamatellis whipped in a fierce cross from the right that Aleksander Duricic nearly turned into his own net but luckily for Marconi curled beyond the top corner.
Hatch found Kyle Cimenti, surprisingly open inside the Sutherland area, but could only manage to send his header over the bar before Bulic was called into action again to tip the ball around the post from a Bouman long-range effort.
The visitors dominated large sections of the opening 45-minutes against a resilient Sharks defence but were unable to find a way through and with neither side able to break the deadlock, it remained scoreless at half-time.
Marconi continued the high press after the restart with Stamatellis forced to charge down a Hatch effort almost immediately.
Jay McGowan, in reply, tore into the area down the left but his curled effort was charged down in a rare attacking move from the home side.
Play became ragged as the half wore on as Marconi strove to get back on the winning trail and sustain their Premiership hopes but it was Hatch who miscued another shot wide of the mark from a Bouman cross off the right wing adding to the increasing frustration.
Fumoto Kamada fed Hamish Lamberton down the left in transitional play, but a scrambling Stallions defence denied the opportunity, at times leaving just their ‘keeper James Hilton, inside his own half when in search of a goal.
Sutherland made a couple of tactical changes after 65 minutes bringing on Jesse Photi and Alex Brown for Busch and debutante Antonis Martis and began to push forward with more purpose having soaked up the pressure for virtually the entire game.
Sutherland now began to push on but still couldn’t find the final telling ball option.
Oliver Randazzo stole possession from Chris Hatfield and fed Jordan Roberts, on for Lamberton, charging into the box but in keeping with the previous play, the substitute managed to fire high and wide over the woodwork in what would have amounted to a smash and grab raid.
Roberts nearly snatched it at the death but flashed his shot past the upright once more leaving another goal-less game at Seymour Shaw at the final whistle which left a frustrated Stallions Assistant Coach Peter Papoythis to comment.
“There were periods in the first-half where we should have run away with the game,” he said.
”We had plenty of chances and didn’t put them away and eventually came away with a nil-all draw and if you don’t put your chances away you don’t win games, simple as that.
“We’re very happy with the team’s effort, desire and application during the game and we knew Sutherland would play long, which didn’t really hurt us and perhaps they could have played shorter and tried to keep the ball that way but we knew what to expect and to come away from this ground with a point is better than nothing.
“Make no mistake, we came here to win, we’re trying to win a Premiership and trying to chase down the team at the top whereas they (Sutherland) are looking to come out of the lower reaches of the table but we definitely came here for the three points,” he concluded.
While Interim Sharks coach Panni Nikas was proud with how his chargers performed against a top of the table side.
“We were probably on the ropes in the opening 15-20 minutes,” he replied.
“We started slowly, and our ball movement was sluggish circulating into the next phase at times but after that we started getting into it.
“We spoke about a couple of things at half-time and I think we had the better of the chances after the break where we could have capitalised, and it was a good display to finish off and we move on to next week.
“Marconi are always a strong opponent, but we’ve built a good reputation of being hard to beat at home and we won’t take a backward step to any team so it’s a very, very positive mentality in this group.
“We’ll keep building on the structures put into place by Damir (Prodanovic) and keep moving forward.”
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks 0
Marconi Stallions 0
Seymour Shaw Park, Miranda
Saturday 1st July, 2023
Referee: Eric Saba
Assistants: Cameron Wright and Matthew Harris
Fourth: Hayden Michlmayer
Sutherland Sharks: 1. Marko Bulic, 2 Takahide Umebachi, 4. Mitch Stamatellis, 7. Jay McGowan, 9. Hamish Lamberton (3. Jordan Roberts 76’), 11. Fumoto Kamada, 14. Antonis Martis (8. Alex Brown 65’), 15. Nathan Grimaldi, 25. Oliver Randazzo (24. Levi Sciuraga 87’), 33. Louis Khoury, 91. Jonty Busch (5. Jesse Photi 65’)
Subs not used: 26. Jake Garner, 29. Sam Smith
Yellow Cards: Louis Khoury 36′
Red Cards:
Marconi Stallions: 24. James Hilton, 2. Nathan Millgate, 3. Giorgio Speranza, 8. Hiroaki Aoyama, 9. Jordan Swibel (7. Christopher Hatfield 76’), 10. Marko Jesic, 11. Daniel Bouman (12. Sam Gulisano 76’), 13. Aleksander Duricic, 19. Kyle Cimenti, 22. Taylor McDonald (23. Brandon Vella 65’), 39. Matthew Hatch (17. Martin Fernandez 88’)
Subs not used: 18. Luka Knezevic, 20. Jack Gibson
Yellow Cards: Hiroaki Aoyama 13’, Matthew Hatch 56’, Sam Gulisano 88’
Red Cards:
Player Ratings
3 – Matthew Hatch (MS)
2 – Mitch Stamatellis (SS)
1 – Marko Jesic (MS)
By NPL NSW Men’s Reporter Micky Brock
