Stallions add to Hills’ relegation fears
The Marconi Stallions secured three points on a cold Saturday night at Landen Stadium with a 3-1 victory over Hills United FC.
Marko Jesic opened the scoring for the Stallions in the 8th minute, before doubling his tally in the 31st minute.
Domenic Costanzo then took the visitors’ lead to three in the 51st minute, before Nicolai Muller managed a sensational goal to get Hills in the game in the 56th minute.
The result keeps Marconi in the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s Premiership race, while serves Hills United a heavy blow as they fight to get out of the relegation zone.
Fans didn’t wait long for a goal on a crisp Saturday night at Landen Stadium, with Marconi captain Jesic opening the scoring in the 8th minute of the match.
George Daniel made a break forward around the halfway line, with Costanzo putting a ball across the goal face for Jesic to finish at close range.
Jesic went for another in the 10th minute but fired high over the bar.
Hills’ attacker Anthony Frangie had the perfect opportunity to score from a free kick in a dangerous position in the 16th minute, but his effort skewed left of the sticks.
The hosts earned another free kick in the 21st minute as referee Danny Horstead adjudged that Cameron Windust committed a foul just outside the 18-yard-box.
Yerasimakis Petratos took the free kick but skied it high over the bar.
A second goal came for the visitors in the 31st minute, again through captain Jesic.
Franco Maya sent the ball into the area from a free kick on the left flank and met the head of Jesic, who guided it into the area to net his second of the night.
Marconi’s James Temelkovski hit the back of the net in the 36th minute, however linesman Daniel Drewitt promptly raised his flag to rule out the goal.
Maya sent a shot towards the target in the 38th minute but wasn’t able to meet the target.
Daniel Bouman tried his luck with a strike, but it was kept out by an alert Ryan Wood.
A third goal came for the Stallions not long after the second-half restart.
Jesic pounced on a less-than-ideal back pass from Hills, maneuvering around a diving Wood before passing to Costanzo.
Costanzo took his time before sending a shot calmly over the line from close range to secure a three-goal lead for the visitors.
Hills United finally worked themselves into the game through a sensational strike from range by Muller in the 56th minute.
Temelkovski had a great opportunity to extend the visitors’ lead in the 68th minute, beating Wood to face an unmanned goal, however the Hills’ defence managed to get back quickly and limit his chances.
The Marconi attacker’s eventual shot was cleared by Daniel Petkovski.
Hills were quick to retaliate with Yu Okubo narrowly missing his opportunity as his strike deflected off the woodwork moments later.
A free kick to the hosts gave them another opportunity to chase the game but Cameron Windust managed an impressive clearance off the line.
Hills United Substitute Thomas Makko sent a free kick straight towards the target in the 83rd minute, but Hilton was well prepared to collect.
Wood pulled off a sensational save to keep the visitors at bay in the 3rd minute of injury time, leaving the game to finish 3-1 to the Stallions.
Marconi Stallions coach Peter Tsekenis was pleased his team was able to secure three points heading into the final matches of the season.
“I thought in patches we were ok and we scored goals,” he said.
“We’re sometimes our worst enemy, we want to move the ball quickly and when we don’t, we give the opposition the opportunity to close us down and credit to them [Hills United].
“They’re obviously desperate to come off the bottom of the table and they worked hard and tried to make it very difficult, and they did.
“At the end of the day we got the goals with a little bit of quality we showed in those moments.
“Credit to them, they kept coming and they had something to play for and so did we.
“We’ll take the points that we needed and move on.”
Hills United coach Luke Casserly was disappointed his side wasn’t able to get a tighter scoreline in the match.
“I certainly felt that the 3-1 scoreline didn’t reflect the performance,” Casserly explained.
“There were big moments and big periods in the game where I thought we did really well.
“We had one of the best teams in the league and we were going toe-to-toe with them.”
Match Stats
Hills United FC 1 (Nicolai Muller 56’)
Marconi Stallions 3 (Jesic 8’, 31’, Costanzo 51’)
Saturday 10th August, 2024
Landen Stadium, Blacktown
Referee: Danny Horstead
Assistant Referees: Cameron Wright and Daniel Drewitt
Fourth Official: Rowan Fisher
Hills United FC: 1. Ryan Wood, 2. Rainer Smahel, 5. Daniel Petkovski, 8. Yerasimakis Petratos (10. Jamal Belkadi 80’), 9. Yu Okubo, 11. Anthony Frangie (24. Sunday Yona 80’), 12. Jordan Lane, 16. Lachlan Sepping (20. Thomas Lopez 63’), 22. Byron Ginn, 27. Nicolai Muller, 77. Dimi Petratos (26. Thomas Makko 63’)
Substitutes Not Used:13. Cameron Philp, 31. William Loucas
Yellow Cards: Petkovski 79’, Muller 85’
Red Cards: Nil
Marconi Stallions: 1. James Hilton, 2. Nathan Millgate, 3. Cameron Windust, 5. James Bayliss, 6. Domenic Constanzo (20. Yuki Kitano 63’), 7. Franco Maya (19. Kyle Cimenti 59’), 8. Daniel Bouman (34. Julian Monge 89’), 9. James Temelkovski (29. Luke Raso 89’), 10. Marko Jesic, 18. George Daniel, 23. Brandon Vella
Substitutes Not Used: 22. Griffin Barry, 26. Matthew Martignago
Yellow Cards: Raso 90’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Marko Jesic (MS)
2 – Brandon Vella (MS)
1 – James Hilton (MS)
