Bulls no match for rampaging Stallions
The Marconi Stallions secured a convincing 5-1 victory over cellar dwellers Bulls FC Academy at Marconi Stadium on a rainy Saturday night.
It was an action-packed first half for the Stallions with an own goal from Bulls’ Michael Marcevski followed by goals to Daniel Bouman, Jordan Swibel and Domenic Costanzo.
Marko Jesic scored for the Stallions after the break and substitute Marco Arambasic secured the lone goal for the visitors.
The first goal came early for Marconi through an own goal.
Giorgio Speranza sent a ball towards the target and an unfortunate touch from Marcevski directed the ball into the net.
The hosts doubled their lead in the 10th minute as captain Jesic sent a cross into the area and Bouman headed the ball into the netting.
A handball from Bulls FC Academy in the 15th minute gave the Stallions a penalty opportunity that Swibel calmly converted.
Jesic took a left-footed shot from the edge of the 18-yard box in the 33rd minute, but Bulls FC Academy ‘keeper Alexander Robinson calmly collected.
Domenic Costanzo weaved his way through the Bulls defence and left off a powerful shot at close range to take the lead to four in the 34th minute.
Ariath Piol met the end of a Jordan Ivancic ball in front of goal and sent a shot towards goal but James Hilton collected.
A push in the back gave Marconi a free kick in a dangerous position, and Jesic stepped up to the opportunity, sending his shot past a diving Robinson in the 57th minute.
Substitute Taylor McDonald took a chance from range in the 71st minute but fired it wide.
Bulls FC Academy’s Stephan De Robillard took a free kick from a strong position in the 73rd minute, but his shot was headed away by Nathan Millgate.
The visitors finally got themselves on the scoreboard in the 75th minute from a counter-attack.
Substitute Marko Arambasic positioned himself well to receive the ball and fire over Hilton to score.
They came back for more in the 80th minute as Mason Wells sent a ball towards the target, but Hilton calmly collected.
Arambasic could have taken his tally to two in the 88th minute after receiving the ball from Wells right in front of the goal, but he tapped it just wide.
Despite the visitors continuing to apply pressure in the final stages of the match, they couldn’t manage to hit the net again with the match finishing 5-1 to Marconi.
Marconi Assistant Coach Peter Pathoysis was pleased with the result.
“I was very happy with the first half, can’t complain about that, we had a really good go and I’m just pleased with the way we finished that first half,” he explained.
“Second half, full credit to them, they came out and they tried to play and their coaching staff have got a hard job.
“Spider’s got a tough job there with some young kids trying to blood them in, losing players all the time and they pushed us around.
“It was 1-1 in the second half.
“We made some subs, we wanted to give some boys some minutes.
“Happy with a 5-1 win, if you told me at the start of the game ‘you’re going to win 5-1’, I’d take it every day.”
Bulls FC Academy coach Zeljko Kalac was able to take plenty of positives from his sides performance despite the result.
“We made some silly mistakes which have cost us all year, but it’s a young side so we do expect that,” he said.
“I thought the second half performance was actually excellent, we created a lot of chances against a very, very good side.
“I’m not saying we could have won the game, we were way beyond that, but we played really well and it was a great reaction by the boys in the second half with a very young squad.
“We’ve just got to keep building and that’s the future of the club to keep building with the young players.
“I think we had something like seven 18 year olds on the park against a very established and strong side so you can’t complain with their effort and the style of football that we’re trying to play.
“We’re trying to find the next gems for the A-League and the only way to do it is by playing this brand of football and you’re gonna get good days and bad days but if they keep playing like this in a couple of years, hopefully there’s a few of them going into the A-League environment.”
Match Stats
Marconi Stallions FC 5 (Marcevski OG 6’, Bouman 10’, Swibel 16’, Costanzo 34’, Jesic 57’)
Bulls FC Academy 1 (Arambasic 75’)
Saturday 5th August, 2023
Marconi Stadium, Bossley Park
Referee: Danny Horstead
Assistant Referees: Alessandro Llana and Daniel Drewitt
Fourth Official: Ethan Zvargulis
Marconi Stallions FC: 24. James Hilton, 2. Nathan Millgate, 3. Giorgio Speranza, 5. Liam McGing (13. Aleksandar Duricic 30’), 6. Domenic Costanzo, 7. Christopher Hatfield (21. Justin Vidic 64’), 8. Hirokai Aoyama (12. Samuel Gulisano 57’), 9. Jordan Swibel, 10. Marko Jesic (39. Matthew Hatch), 11. Daniel Bouman, 23. Brandon Vella 22. Taylor McDonald 57’)
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Marcus Petrovski
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Bulls FC Academy: 2. Luca Pecora (19. Gildas Gomwikezwa 82’), 6. Frans Deli (23. William Freney 82’), 8. Mason Wells (36. Will McKay 87’), 11. Stephan De Robillard, 13. Jordan Ivancic, 14. Peter Grozos (18. Frederico Gagliano 68’) , 15. Mabior Garang, 20. Ariath Piol (12. Marco Arambasic 68’), 21. Lachlan Macdonald, 29. Michael Marcevski, 30. Alexander Robinson
Substitutes Not Used: 41. Patrick Williams
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Giorgio Speranza (MS)
2 – Domenic Costanzo (MS)
1 – Marko Jesic (MS)
