Trophies on the agenda for Stallions

21 December , 2019 By Football NSW

Stallions coach Peter Tsekenis will be gunning for more from his side as preparations for the 2020 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s season clicks into gear.

The former Australian youth international understands what is needed to bring success to the club with the 2019 Waratah Cup Champions hoping to add more titles to its historic trophy cabinet at Bossley Park.

Thus far, Tsekenis has made minimal fuss in the player market recruiting former Sydney United 58 player Lachlan Roberts, former Mounties Wanderers keeper Dion Shaw, ex-Bonnyrigg White Eagles player Mark Rodic and former Adelaide City star striker Anthony Costa who has moved across from South Australia.

There are still spots available with the club looking towards snapping up a couple more key signings prior to its round 1 clash against the Sutherland Sharks at Marconi Stadium on Sunday 1^st of March (7pm).

Tsekenis and his assistant coach Peter ‘Flea’ Papoythis has retained a fair few of their 2019 stars as the likes of Liam Youlley, Marko Jesic, Martin Fernandez, Nenad Vekic, James Andrew, Mitchell Mallia, Connor Evans and the Speranza brothers Giorgio and Roberto will be familiar figures once more in Sydney’s South West as will Brandon Vella, Sean O’Connell, Zac Cairncross and Nathan Millgate.

Young Australian youth international Lachlan Sepping will see more senior game time in 2020 while a return from injury that hampered Anthony Frangie’s run with the Stallions in 2019 will be a blessing in disguise for the proud former NSL club.

Marconi Stallions 2020: Lachlan Roberts, Liam Youlley, Marko Jesic, Martin Fernandez, Nenad Vekic, Brandon Vella, James Andrew, Sean O’Connell, Lachlan Sepping, Zac Cairncross, Mitchell Mallia, Giorgio Speranza, Roberto Speranza, Anthony Frangie, Nathan Millgate, Connor Evans, Anthony Costa, Dion Shaw, Mark Rodic

Young Stallions stars earn trip of a lifetime to Germany

13 December , 2019 By Football NSW

Following a long deliberation Borussia Dortmund has announced the names of two players who have been chosen to travel to Germany to train and trial.

The two players chosen for this historic opportunity are Aidan Milicevic (16 years) and Jetzen Lopez (13).

Both will travel to Germany from January 17 and will train and trial for 10 days under the watchful eye of the BVB Coaching staff.

The two were chosen following the inaugural BVB Coaching Clinic with Club Marconi in October when 140 players attended in age groups from 6 to 16.

The two players are the first to be chosen by BVB who will be returning for their second clinic in 2020 from April 14 to 17.

Marconi Stallions Press Release

Persistence pays off for Yianni Nicolaou

5 September , 2019 By Football NSW

After trialing in Scotland at the end of 2018, 19-year-old defender Yianni Nicolaou then returned to Marconi Stallions FC.

He played 15 games in the Stallions FC NPL 1 team in 2019 before leaving mid-season to trial with English League 2 team, Salford City.

His persistence was rewarded, he was signed to a one-year contract with an option to extend.

He joined the newly promoted club following a successful trial.

Salford City have been promoted in four of their last five seasons and are currently 15^th after 5 matches in the English 4^th Division.

The club is “part owned” by former Manchester United team mates Phil and Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and David Beckham.

Nicolaou, was a member of the Waratah Cup winning team in 2019 after making his first-grade debut this season. He became a “regular” in the team

He has come up “through the system” in Australia, starting out at the Football NSW Institute of Sport and Westfield Sports High before joining Marconi Stallions FC.

The defender represented Australia at the AFC Under 16 Championships in 2016.

Australian born, Nicolaou is expected to be spending his time with the Salford City youth team set up. This boasts a University, begun by club owners to offer degrees for players to build life skills outside of football.

Stallions helping to save lives

3 September , 2019 By Football NSW

Marconi Stallions First Grade Coach Peter Tsekenis is “educating “his players in how to handle potential “health situations on and off the field”.

After attending a Fund Raiser recently, he was curious as to how the Marconi Stallions FC would handle a potential “life and death situation” requiring the use of a defibrillator. He was concerned that the club was not equipped or educated to handle such a situation.

What would we do? This question prompted him to invite Andy Paschalidis from the Heartbeat of Football to address and demonstrate the defibrillator to his first grade playing squad.

The organization is a non-for-profit charity which promotes healthy hearts in sport via player education including understanding the use of the defibrillator machine.

The aim was to increase the players awareness and provide a safeguard should a potential “heart stopping” moment occur.

“We would never forgive ourselves if such a situation arose and we were unable to handle a potential life-threatening crisis.”

“Knowing about CPR is so important.”

Following the visit by the Heartbeat of Football every player and official in the first-grade squad is now aware of the defibrillator, its location and most importantly, how to use it should such a situation eventuate.

This is a starting point for Marconi Stallions FC, this proactive approach with the first grade NPL team will be followed by the Under 20 and Under 18 Boys Youth teams and the Senior Women’s Teams all becoming more aware of CPR and becoming educated to handle a potential life-threatening situation.

Antelmi the hero as United 58 sink Stallions

18 August , 2019 By Football NSW

A dramatic extra-time brace from substitute Patrick Antelmi has helped Sydney United 58 eliminate fierce rivals Marconi Stallions with a 2-0 win in the elimination semi-final at Sydney United Sports Centre on Saturday.

It was a brilliant performance from Antelmi who added to his brilliant finals scoring record to lift United 58 at home after the match was deadlocked

The Substitute cooly finished after a Sim pass in the 92nd minute before wrapping up the win with a penalty in the 112th to end Marconi’s finals campaign.

The win keeps United’s finals hopes alive and sets up a semi-final clash against either Blacktown City on Wednesday night.

The home side started the better of the two sides with midfielder Tarik Maia firing straight at the keeping eight minutes in for the first chance of the match.

Marconi’s reply was from a direct free-kick by Mitchell Mallia in the 16^th minute which forced a big save from Thomas Manos.

Marconi pressed from the left channel midway through the first stanza of play with Marko Jesic who attempted to break the deadlock, but his shot missed the mark thanks to some skilful intervention from the Sydney United 58 defence.

Another free-kick from the Stallions drifted across the face of goal in the 32^nd minute and reached Zachary Cairncross at the far post who headed the ball into the side netting, much to the relief of the home fans.

A couple of dangerous crosses in the space of a minute, late in the first half, caused some heartbeats to skip for Marconi but the home side certainly couldn’t capitalise on the momentum and the first 45 minutes finished scoreless.

The first real chance of the second half fell to Sydney United 58 and it was a double barrel attempt when both Peter Simonoski and Liam Rose had their consecutive shots blocked by some desperate Marconi defence.

In the 63^rd minute James Andrew cleverly found Brandon Vella in the box and his close range attempt was delightfully turned away for a corner by an alert Manos. It was a very good chance for the Stallions – their best in the second stanza of play – that probably should have been capitalised on.

In the 73^rd minute a clinical shot from Simonoski was well blocked by Nathan Millgate showing all of his experience in defence.

The hosts were at it again shortly afterwards. A corner by Maia from the left was directly on target but was well punched away by Vekic as the home side pressed forward.

Sydney United 58 came terribly close in the 88^th minute when Patrick Antelmi let fly with a thunderbolt that flashed past the post.

A minute later a perfect cross from the left found Matthew Sim in the box and he delightfully danced his way past two defenders, but his final shot was only centimetres wide of the intended target much to the despair of the home fans.

The game then finished 0-0 in regular time despite a very late claim for a penalty by Marconi that was waived away by referee Ben Abraham.

In the first period of supplementary time in the 92nd minute Sydney United 58 broke the deadlock. Sim with some very neat work near the by-line found Antelmi lurking with intent and he made no mistake to give the home side the advantage.

A few minutes later a long and dangerous cross from the left found Brandon Vella at the far post but his close range header was fumbled, but still cleared, by Manos with a desperate dive. It was a dangerous reply by Marconi who were determined to equalise.

Almost immediately afterwards Marconi rolled the dice again and came agonisingly close as Jesic hit the post with Manos well and truly beaten. That’s how close the encounter truly was with only a coat of paint separating the sides – and in this case denying Jesic.

In the 112^th minute Sydney United 58 were awarded a penalty when Christian Gonzalez went down in the box and referee Ben Abraham ran straight to the spot. Super-sub Antelmi from the spot made no mistake even though Vekic dived correctly. It was enough to end Marconi’s gallant season as Sydney United live to fight another day.

After the game Sydney United 58’s delighted coach Miro Vlastelica said.

“Definitely a good win but I think the game should have been finished in normal time because we had some good chances.

“We have been getting better in the last month and if this is the form we can take with us on Wednesday, we’ll be okay.

“We need to get our recovery right and we’ll go again. The opposition on Wednesday is in the same boat as us backing up and I am confident in my players that they can do the job.

“Tonight for us was a complete team performance; we dug deep and we never stopped. It was that winning mentality that got us across the line.”

The Marconi Stallions dressing room was fairly sombre but coach Peter Tsekenis was still very proud of his team.

“I thought it was a fairly average game to be honest and we were fairly flat today,” he said.

“Sydney United 58 probably wanted a little bit more but it was semi-final sort of football.

“There were a couple of moments that could have gone either way. There was a shout for a penalty just before fulltime and Mark Jesic hit the post later on and they are the moments that need to go your way if you are going to win.

“Everything didn’t come off for us tonight. The boys did really well to reach this point because it has been a hard slog and I can’t fault our boys.”

Match Stats

SYDNEY UNITED 58 FC: 2 (Antelmi 92’, 112’)

MARCONI STALLIONS: 0

Saturday, 17^th August 2019

Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park

Referee: Ben Abraham
Assistant Referees: Joon Park, Matthew McOrist

Fourth Official: Craig Fisher

SYDNEY UNITED 58 FC: 21.Thomas Manos, 4.Adrian Vlastelica (3.Jordan Roberts 96’), 7.Peter Simonoski, 8.Matthew Sim (5.Anthony Tomelic 102’), 11.Yianni Perkatis (9.Patrick Antelmi 61’), 12.Liam Rose, 15.Tariq Maia, 14.Tomislav Uskok, 17.Matthew Bilic (6.Petar Markovic 107’), 20.Christian Gonzalez, 22.Yianni Frogiannis.

Substitutes not used: 1.Daniel Sadaka.

Yellow Cards: Fragogiannis 32’, Maia 53’, Bilic 57’,

Red Card: Nil

MARCONI STALLIONS: 1.Nenad Vekic, 2.Nathan Millgate, 3.Giorgio Speranza, 4.Roberto Speranza (14.Peter Pelekanos 110’), 6.Liam Youlley, 8.Connor Evans, 10.Marko Jesic, 11.Mitchell Mallia (40.Damian Tsekenis 61’), 12.James Andrew (9.Anthony Frangie 79’), 19.Zachary Cairncross, 23.Brandon Vella.

Substitutes not used: 7.Sean O’Connell, 17.Kristian Sekutkovski

Yellow Cards: Jesic 42’, Millgate 56’, Youlley 91’

Red Card: Nil

By National Prmier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo