Stallions power over Manly to keep Premiership title in their sights

Marconi Stallions closed the gap at the top of the NPL Men’s NSW ladder in Round 28 with a convincing 4-2 win over Manly United after NWS Spirit FC were held back by Wollongong Wolves the previous night.

Manly United, who in theory have nothing to play for except pride, could have been a real banana-skin match for Marconi and it appeared to be exactly that way after a goalless first half, but the home side steadied the ship in the second to run out deserved victors after a thrilling six-goal seconds stanza of play.

In the opening minute Marconi had a corner which reached Jordan Swibel but his shot was just off target for the home side.

It took another twenty minutes or so for the next chance to arrive. It was another corner for the Stallions, which was well taken by James Bayliss, that in the end had a Manly United defender heading back towards his own ‘keeper and forcing Levi Kaye into a nice low down save to his left.

In the 24^th minute a diagonal shot from outside the box by Swibel forced Kaye into another convincing save. Ten minutes later a free-kick from the right caused havoc in the Manly area before Lachlan Griffiths struck the post with his shot and the ball fortuitously for the visitors rebounded off the post and into Kaye’s safe hands.

Manly United’s first real opportunity arrived in the 37^th minute when Stefano Rossello fired over the crossbar from distance. The first half ended shortly afterwards without disturbing the scoreboard attendant which must have been disappointing for Marconi given that they had dominated possession and territory.

The first salvo of the second half belonged to the home side and it arrived in the 56^th  minute. A cross by Marco Jesic from the left reached Swibel in the middle and his powerful header was miraculously turned away by Kaye with a great one-handed save.

A minute later in the 58^th Marconi finally struck gold and opened the scoring. A corner from Bayliss reached Kyle Cimenti in the middle and his header from close range was straight in and it was no more than Marconi deserved.

A rare quadruple change then took place for the Stallions as coach Peter Tsekenis tried to add some fresh legs into the mix and it worked a treat because two minutes later they made it two. Unfortunately though for Manly United it was a rather unfortunate own goal from Aaron O’Driscoll who, up until that point, had been one of the better defenders for the visitors as he tried to clear Dom Costanzo’s shot.

Manly United struck back momentarily with a penalty in the 67^th minute after the referee called a hand ball in the area on Tyren Burnie. Up stepped Darcy Burgess and his impeccable spot kick sent ‘keeper James Hilton the wrong way.

Marconi however regained their two-goal advantage and made it three in the 69^th minute. A corner wasn’t cleared properly and, after some rather scrappy play, it was Marko Jesic who forced the ball over the line from close range.

In the 78^th minute substitute Franco Maya curled one onto the crossbar with force from just outside the box as Marconi refused to take the foot off the pedal.

Late in the game Maya did find the back of the net to make it four for Marconi. A long ball forward found the talented number 7 unmarked in the middle and, with too much space and time on his hands, he simply slotted the ball home past the visiting goalkeeper.

In stoppage time Manly United scored a consolation goal to make the scoreline more respectable as Harry McCarthy scooted free and found the back of the net.

After the game Marconi Stallions coach Peter Tsekenis was satisfied with many aspects of his side’s play.

“Look, we have eyes on the finals but mathematically we could still finish first, second or third and maybe even fourth,” he told Football NSW.

“We will take it one game at a time from here and today I gave some boys some minutes because we need everyone fit in the home stretch, but there are no injuries today which is a first for us.

“The boys put in a good shift but it was tricky out there because at halftime it was 0-0. We totally dominated against the Central Coast and lost that game and we didn’t want that to occur against Manly today because it was heart-breaking and we were totally dominant going into the break.

“The boys kept to the plan in this game and we got the goals that we deserved in the second half. I am disappointed that we conceded two, but that’s football and overall I am fairly happy with the result.”

Match Stats

MARCONI STALLIONS: 4 (Cimenti 58’, O’Driscoll o.g. 63’, Jesic 69’, Maya 88’)

MANLY UNITED FC: 2 (Burgess pen. 67’, McCarthy 92’)

Sunday 16^th August

Marconi Stadium, Bossley Park

Referee: Logan Jones
Assistant referees: Arinath Gobinath, Brady Fisher

Fourth Official: Oliver Udovicic

MARCONI STALLIONS: 1. James Hilton, 2. Tyren Burnie, 5. Lachlan Griffiths (6. Dom Costanzo 61’), 8. James Bayliss, 9. Kyle Cimenti (7. Franco Maya 61’), 10. Marko Jesic (14. Jake Trew 69’), 13. Tass Mourdoukoutas, 18. George Daniel, 23. Brandon Vella, 24. Matej Busek (12. Julian Monge 61’), 99. Jordan Swibel (17. Damian Tsekenis 61’).

Substitutes not used: 20. Patrick Williams.

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

MANLY UNITED FC: 1. Levi Kaye, 2. Aaron O’Driscoll, 3. Matthew O’Donoghue (31. Charlie Kanu 84’), 4. Jesse Piriz, 8. Stefano Rossello, 14. Maxwell Pengelly (33. Max Walker 84’), 15. Max Martinello, 17. Farah Koko, 23. Darcy Burgess, 24. Toby Bakewell (25. Cai Evans 69’), 29. Will Faulder (10. Harry McCarthy 57’)

Substitutes not used: 21. Anthony Carreras, 27. Jared Muir.

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

Player Ratings

3- James Bayliss (MS)

2 – Brandon Vella (MS)

1 – George Daniel (MS)

By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo