In an incredibly intense and fiery game of football, APIA Leichhardt progressed to the Minor Semi-Final after securing a 1-0 victory over a 10-man Marconi at Marconi Stadium on Saturday evening.

Marconi goalkeeper Nenad Vekic was shown red in the 31st minute after an impressive opening period, leaving the hosts down a player for the majority of the match.

APIA Leichhardt found the back of the net just before half time through Jack Armson in what ended up being the lone goal of the match despite plenty of action throughout the full 90 minutes in a bustling Marconi Stadium.

The 10-man Stallions applied plenty of attacking pressure throughout the match and came close several times, but weren’t able to convert, ending their season in a hard-fought battle in front of their home fans.

In the always fierce Italian Derby, two historic teams came to head in the Elimination Semi-Final and put everything on the line for a chance to progress to the next stage of National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s finals football.

APIA started the pressure early, earning a chance in the fourth minute with a big strike from Diego Celis off a free kick, but custodian Nenad Vekic was in place to collect.

A corner in the 17th minute saw Marconi with an opportunity as Domenic Costanzo delivered the ball to Taylor McDonald, who headed the ball towards the target but APIA ‘keeper Ivan Necevski collected

APIA had another chance in the 19th minute, again from a free kick, as Jason Romero fired a shot goal bound but Vekic managed to parry it away.

Marconi had a golden opportunity to score in the 25th minute as Brandon Vella intercepted the ball and found himself with free reign of the goal with just Necevski in his way.

Vella held the ball up and attempted to play the ball through to Christopher Hatfield in front of the goal, but there were too many APIA defenders catching up and they managed to get in the way of the hosts’ chances.

Paul Galimi created an opportunity for APIA in the 27th minute as he sent a ball in to Romero in the area, but Vekic managed to scramble to get a hand to the ball to desperately deny.

Referee Hassan Jomaa reached into his pocket to give a red card to Vekic in the 31st minute after he brought down Romero on the edge of the box.

Marconi coach Peter Tsekenis brought on substitute goalkeeper Dion Shaw for the first time this season in place of Hatfield and reshuffled his team to try to best manage the one-man deficit for the remaining 60 minutes of the match.

Despite being in the perfect position for a shot, Celis fired the resulting free kick over the bar.

The Marconi faithful were vehemently calling for a penalty in the 2nd minute of injury time as Michael Kouta handled their captain Marko Jesic inside the area, but it was the visitors who got the advantage, scoring just moments later through Armson.

Yianni Nicolau crossed the ball in from the right flank to Romero, who controlled the ball with his chest and guided the ball to Armson.

Armson manoeuvred his way into position and let off a strike that came off the crossbar and bounced down and over the line.

Marconi came close to a goal after the game restarted as Connor Evans sent a beautiful free kick to the head of Nathan Millgate, who headed it towards the target but it skewed just wide of the goal.

The Stallions created another opportunity in the 57th minute as they continued to press through the early stages of the second half, despite being a man down.

A ball from Millgate on the left came to Vella on the edge of the 18-yard box.

Vella played the ball to Costanzo, who played Jesic, who gave himself some time to find Girogio Speranza, but his header couldn’t find the target.

Substitute ‘keeper Shaw was called into action in the 58th minute as a header from Celis ricocheted off the crossbar to Armson, who sent a header towards the target but Shaw collected and frantically held it in front of the line.

The Marconi bench and stands roared in the 83rd minute as Jomaa waved away what they felt was yet another penalty as Jesic and Themba Muata-Marlow collided in the air.

Diego Celis missed the chance to put the match to bed in the 84th minute as he received the ball from substitute Matt Cahill in front of the goal, but fired wide.

The home side came agonisingly close to securing an equaliser in the fourth minute of extra time as a Jesic throw in from the sideline found Thomas James, but Necevski kept the ball from crossing the line, holding out what would be the last chance for the hosts to take anything from the match.

APIA Leichhardt coach Danial Cummins, was pleased his team was able to hold out a strong Marconi side to progress through the finals.

“It was crazy, it was a typical semi-final with two desperate sides,” he said.

“You’ve got to give it to Marconi, they threw the kitchen sink, they threw caution to the wind and they should have had a couple.

“We missed, we hit the crossbar but full credit to Marconi.

“It’s going to be tough next week as well, but we knew what we were going to get today.

“We knew we had to compete, they’re a good side, they’re a really good side.

“We go an extra week so we’ll see how we go.”

Looking forward to next week, APIA Leichhardt will take on the loser of tomorrow’s Manly United v Blacktown City match and Cummins is hoping his side will be fresh and enjoy the finals football experience.

“I think when you get into this time of the year you just want to enjoy it,” he explained.

“You go from October right through to now so it’s about just keeping them fresh and getting them to enjoy it.

“We had a bad run, there was that five weeks where we were just a bit off, we had some problems with injuries and with COVID and stuff like that, so we’ll see how we go with that.”

Match Stats

Marconi Stallions FC 0

APIA Leichhardt FC 1 (Jack Armson 45+2’) 

Marconi Stadium, Bossley Park

Saturday, 6th August, 2022

Referee: Hassan Jomaa

Assistant Referees: Emma Kocbek and Cameron Wright

Fourth Official: Craig Fisher

Marconi Stallions FC: 1. Nenad Vekic, 2. Nathan Millgate, 3. Giorgio Speranza (9. Thomas James 75’), 6. Domenic Costanzo, 7. Christopher Hatfield (20. Dion Shaw 31’), 8. Connor Evans, 13. Samuel Gulisano (17. Martin Fernandez 79’), 16. Liam Youlley, 10. Marko Jesic, 22. Taylor McDonald, 23. Brandon Vella

Substitutes Not Used:, 18. Adrian Valenti, 35. Justin Vidic

Yellow Cards: Vella 54’, Jesic 60’

Red Cards: Nenad Vekic 31’

APIA Leichhardt FC: 1. Ivan Necevski, 3. Paul Galimi (7. Matthew Cahill 75’), 5. Nicholas Azzone (19. Fabian Monge 60’), 6. Simon Nicholas, 8. Diego Celis, 9. Jason Romero, 14. Jack Armson (10. Franco Parisi 90+2’), 15. Themba Muata-Marlow, 18. Adrian Ucchino, 21. Michael Kouta, 38. Yianni Nicolaou

Substitutes Not Used: 4. Joshua Symons, 22. Luke Turnbull, 40. James Khoury

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

 

 

APIA Leichhardt secured a 2-0 victory over a 10-man Marconi at Lambert Park on Sunday evening in the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s ‘Italian Derby’ and all but threw a spanner in the Stallions chances of clinching the 2022 Premiership.

The match up had everything you would expect of a historic rivalry, with plenty of fire, physicality and intensity from both ends of the park.

The opening goal of the match came just before the half-time break for the hosts through Yianni Nicolau, with a converted penalty from Jason Romero in the 62nd minute taking the hosts to two goals and the visitors to 10 men as Roberto Speranza was sent from the field with his second yellow.

The loss has made taking the Premiership title much harder for Marconi, but has put APIA Leichhardt in a strong position to qualify for finals football.

The game started off with plenty of fire as the experienced players showed their hunger to get the win and get in the best possible position for the final round of the season next week.

APIA seemed most comfortable in the opening stages of the match as they used their home-ground advantage to create early pressure on their opposition.

Walter Scott played an attacking ball to Diego Celis in the 17th minute to start a golden opportunity for the hosts.

Celis used his first touch to play the ball to Jack Armson, who headed back to Celis leaving him in prime position just to the left of the goal, but he rocketed his shot over the bar.

APIA blazed forward in attack at the 38 minute mark as Jason Romero played a ball over the top to Celis, but Nenad Vekic came out to go one-on-one with the attacker and managed to apply enough pressure to see him drive it over the boundary line.

Marconi came close through a corner in the 40th minute as the ball reached Roberto Speranza at the far post, before going out for another corner that resulted in a flick-on header from Nathan Millgate that was collected by APIA’s veteran ‘keeper Ivan Necevski.

After sustained pressure throughout the opening 45, APIA Leichhardt managed to secure a valuable goal just before the half-time break.

Celis played the ball from a central position to Nicolaou just inside the 18-yard box on the left, who moved inwards to send a curling effort past a diving Vekic and into the netting.

After coming back to the field from the break with plenty of energy, both sides were showing their hunger in what was proving to be a tight battle.

Celis made an attacking run in the 62nd minute as Romero played him the ball, but despite the calls from Marconi of him seemingly doing so from an offside position, he moved into a dangerous position and Roberto Speranza brought him down with a tackle inside the area.

Referee Ben Abraham pointed to the spot and along with the penalty the incident saw Speranza awarded his second yellow of the match and subsequently a red card, bringing the visitors down to 10 men in the final 30 minutes of the match.

As the Stallions settled into playing with three at the back they continued to challenge the hosts with attacking pressure, but it was APIA who would again have the next real opportunity to score.

Substitute Matthew Cahill made a run down the right flank to create the chance for the hosts, centring for Romero inside the area. Romero took a few touches before cutting to Armson, who sent his shot wide of the target.

Romero was back in the centre of the action again in the 80th minute as he sent a shot towards the goal, but his effort flew over the bar as APIA Leichhardt hunted for a third.

Despite continued pressure at both ends, the match finished with a 2-0 victory to the hosts.

APIA Leichhardt coach Danial Cummins was pleased his side were able to put up a good fight and put themselves in a good position to continue to compete for finals football.

“It was always going to be a fiery match, they’re a good side, they’re the benchmark.

“They were playing to win the Premiership, so we knew we had to wrestle with them and boys were a bit stinging from the first round.

“If we lost tonight there’s no finals, so we’re still not guaranteed, we’ve got to win next week, so it was all or nothing and I’m really proud of the boys.

“I think this at least gives the boys a bit of hope, gives them a bit of confidence.

“We’ve been struggling the last four or five weeks, we’ve had some injuries, we’ve had Covid, and we’ve just haven’t been converting the chances so there’s nothing better than the Italian Derby to get us into form.

“They’re a good side, Sydney United, they’ve underachieved this year, I think Miro [Vlastelica] has got them playing better football, I think if Miro had them from the start, they’d probably be in the top five.

“We’ve got a few boys that are injured and injured from tonight so we’ll see how everyone pulls up but we’ll have to come up with a game plan because they’re not going to be easy.”

Marconi coach Peter Tsekenis gave credit to the opposition for their hunger in the match, while expressing his frustration at the lack of calls going his way in recent weeks.

“I thought they deserved the win, not based on not football, I just thought they were a bit more desperate,” he said.

“They probably felt like they had more to play for, but I think we had just as much to play for, for a Premiership but that’s gone.

“I thought the decision on the penalty was, in my opinion, offside, but we don’t get those calls and get a player sent off, it just made it difficult.

“I never doubt the players will to compete, it just didn’t fall for us today.

“We were up against a team that was a little bit hungrier, and everything fell for them today and they got the result and that was a very important result.

“That’s our fourth loss of the season, we’ll take that as a learning curve.

“What you saw out there was finals football, and we need to be ready for that come finals football.

“We’ll just dust ourselves off, see where we’re at and then put a big one in next week before the finals.”

Match Stats

APIA Leichhardt FC 2 (Nicolaou 45+1’, Romero 65’)

Marconi Stallions FC 0 

Lambert Park, Leichhardt

Sunday, 24th July, 2022

Referee: Ben Abraham

Assistant Referees: Maddy Allum & Matt Staples

Fourth Official: Jackson Mackie

APIA Leichhardt FC: 1. Ivan Necevski, 3. Paul Galimi, 5. Nicholas Azzone, 8. Diego Celis  (7. Matthew Cahill 73’), 9. Jason Romero, 14. Jack Armson (19. Fabian Monge 85’), 15. Themba Muata-Marlow, 18. Adrian Ucchino, 21. Michael Kouta, 23. Walter Scott, 38. Yianni Nicolaou

Substitutes Not Used: 4. Joshua Symons, 6. Simon Nicholas, 10. Franco Parisi, 22. Luke Turnbull

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

Marconi Stallions FC: 1. Nenad Vekic, 2. Nathan Millgate, 3. Giorgio Speranza, 4. Roberto Speranza, 6. Domenic Costanzo, 7. Christopher Hatfield (17. Martin Fernandez 59’), 8. Connor Evans (16. Liam Youlley 73’), 9. Thomas James (35. Justin Vidic 71’), 10. Marko Jesic, 22. Taylor McDonald, 23. Brandon Vella

Substitutes Not Used: 13. Samuel Gulisano, 19. Zach Cairncross, 20. Dion Shaw

Yellow Cards: Roberto Speranza 38’, 63’

Red Cards: Roberto Speranza 63’