Late Temelkovski goal secures victory for Marconi over resilient Spirit
An injury time penalty from star boy James Temelkovski has guided the Marconi Stallions to a gutsy 2-1 win over NWS Spirit at Marconi Stadium on Saturday night.
Coming into the game down on men and without a win in the 2024 season, the visitors were eager to get off to a positive start and did so as the game got going in the first half.
After falling behind in the backstages of the first half, it was Marconi who surprisingly opened the scoring after Domenic Costanzo went direct from a corner and found the back of the net.
Spirit answered back in the 65th minute after a goalkeeping error put the ball on a platter for Jesse Michel, who powered his chance into the roof of the net from close range.
With both sides running out of time, it was the hosts who came out on top after Temelkovski neatly converted from the penalty spot to give his side all three points.
It was a relatively balanced start to the game for both sides but it was the hosts who started off the stronger of the two.
As the game progressed in the opening 15 minutes, genuine chances were hard to come by, but it was Spirit who had the first real opportunity of the game.
Jarred McKinley came close for the visitors after a deflected cross fell into his path, but his piercing effort narrowly whistled past the bottom corner.
With the game slowly turning in Spirit’s favour, Costanzo tried his best to win back momentum with an audacious effort from close to the halfway line that ultimately went just wide of the target.
The final sector of the first half was dictated by the visitors, with Marconi’s attacking chances drying up and most of their energy being exerted on defence.
Spirit came within inches of taking the lead shortly before the break after a brilliant bit of link-up play between Grant Cornwell and Gianni Bouzoukis A heavy touch from Cornwell inadvertently set Bouzoukis up from close range, but his curling effort riffled back off the bar.
With Spirit now in control of the game, Marconi, out of seemingly nowhere took the lead through Costanzo. With his side lined up for a corner, Costanzo went for the direct option and beat all of the visitor’s defence to sneak his chance home at the back stick.
The goal was a testament to the Stallions’ resilience in defence throughout the first half and gave them a one-goal advantage going into the break.
As play resumed for the second half it was a near carbon copy of the game’s opening stages, with both sides firing blows in attack.
Kyle Shaw had the first chance of the half for either side with a looping header going straight into the arms of James Hilton.
With the game progressing and leaning towards a Marconi result, it was the visitors who drew first blood in the second half. A gigantic long throw from Jared Lum was too much to handle for Hilton as he spilt the ball in front of Michel, who made no mistake from close range.
The Stallions came close to finding their lead back instantaneously as Jesic laid the ball off to Franco Maya at the edge of the box, but his shot was dragged wide away from the back stick.
Spirit nearly found what could have been the winner late in the game after a corner kick fell perfectly to an open Luiz Lobo but his effort narrowly curled past the top corner.
With the seconds ticking away, Marconi was awarded a penalty after Temelkovski went to ground in the box. The imposing strike powered his shot straight down the middle and gifted his side their second win of the season.
After keeping their unbeaten run to start the season intact, Stallions’ assistant Manny Spanoudakis gave his side credit for fighting until the end for victory.
“Tense game against a very strong and well-organised opponent, which we expected, I guess it was even to some extent, I felt like we went through periods where we had some dominance and chose the wrong option,” he said.
“But all in all it was a very tough game and we’re very happy to take the three points.”
NWS Spirit FC coach David Perkovic didn’t hide his disappointment when reflecting on his side’s third game without a win.
“We’ve had a difficult week, we were missing two players from our backline for this game… it was a valiant effort from the players and I felt like we deserved more out of the game, that’s for sure,” Perkovic said.
“I thought we managed the game really well, especially in the first half, just disappointed with the result but the performance I can’t really fault, I thought it was best performance this season.”
Match Stats
Marconi Stallions 2 (Costanzo 39’, Temelkovski 90+4’)
NWS Spirit FC 1 (Michel 66’)
Marconi Stadium, Bossley Park
Saturday 3rd March 2024
Referee: Sam Kelly
Assistant Referees: Amirhossein Hosnan and Hayden Kaye
Fourth Official: Ayad Naji
Marconi Stallions: 1. James Hilton, 2. Nathan Millgate, 4. Anton Milinaric. 6. Domenic Costanzo, 7. Franco Maya (17. Milislave Popovic 78’), 8. Daniel Bouman (21. Jakov Malbasa 89’), 9. James Temelkovski (14. Dylan Susovic 90+5), 10. Marko Jesic (C) (25. Jonathan Soares 78’), 11. Hiroaki Aoyama, 18. George Daniel, 23. Brandon Vella
Subs not used: 3. Cameron Windust, 24. Mackenzie Syron,
Yellow Cards: Costanzo 86’
Red Cards: Nil
NWS Spirit FC: 1. Christopher Marquez, 3. Kyle Shaw, 4. Jarred McKinley, 5. Bradley Whitworth (18. Zachary Cianci 89’), 6. Corey Kavanagh, 8. Grant Cornwell (C), 9. Gianni Bouzoukis (21. Luiz Lobo 61’),11. OIlie Wiggin, 17. Jacob Chidiac, 19. Jesse Michel, 20. Jared Lum
Substitutes Not Used: 12. Titus Macharia, 15. Brayden Burr, 22. Jack Greenwood, 36. Kyah Williams
Yellow Cards: Cornwell 84’, Chidiac 90+6’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Domenic Costanzo – (MS)
2 – Grant Cornwell – (NWS)
1 – James Temelkovski – (MS)
-By Dom Criniti
