Stallions grab point in extra time at Penrith

With both teams in the midst of undefeated runs, the result kept these sequences up but both sides were disappointed to only have one-point at the end of the night.
For the neutral fan it was an exciting match with plenty of good attacking football, and, despite the scoreline, some excellent defence.
The match opened with Penrith-Nepean United?s Jason Browne causing the Marconi defence all sorts of problems but his early efforts came to nothing. In fact the closest Penrith-Nepean got to scoring was in the 15^? minute when Browne was felled on the edge of the area and former Stallion Chris Gomez fired the resultant free-kick just over the crossbar.
Two minutes later it was Marconi who should have opened the scoring after Chris Nunes came down the left and played it across to two unmarked Marconi players on the far side but Nahuel Arrarte and Ante Deur got in each others way and there was no effective shot on the end of it.
In the 23? minute Ante Deur shot just over the bar after good lead up work from Vuko Tomasevic on the left. Then Arrarte picked up a half clearance from a corner and shot the ball goalwards only to see Devrim Huseyin clear the ball off his own line with an outstanding header.
It was all for nothing though as on the next corner the defence could not get the ball away and Tomasevic was able to control the ball and fire it home through traffic to give the visitors the lead.
It was end to end action from then on, but the next goal did not come until the 32? minute. Jason Browne picked up the ball from nothing and being unmarked in the area he was able to control it and fire it home despite James Chronopoulos getting a touch on the ball.
The score would remain all locked up at 1-1 at half-time. That was despite the best efforts of Browne who led the line for Penrith as sole striker with aggression and skill, time after time causing consternation to the Marconi defence.
After half-time it was Marconi who came out the stronger, with Tolgay Ozbey very involved in the game. He was in on goal within the opening three minutes with only Carl McNaughton stopping him with a great tackle inside the area.
A minute later substitute Stefan Donevski got in on the near post but Ozgur Kanyilmaz shut him down and his final shot was well saved by Chad Taylor.
In the 53^? minute Marconi?s early dominance was rewarded with a goal. The local defence did not clear the ball away and Ozbey pounced on the ball in the area, firing home from close range.
Three minutes later the ball fell into Kain Rastall?s path but he shot over the bar. Then over the next few minutes Ozbey caught Chad Taylor out of his area twice but the ball spun away from him on both occasions when the goal was wide open.
Just after the hour Jason Browne set up Nathan Ralph but his shot was off target. In the 68? minute Zac Cairncross flicked on a header at the near post from a Stefan Donevski corner but no one was at the far post for Marconi to capitalise. It was end to end stuff but Marconi dominated the clear chance tally. It was difficult to see where the goals would come for Penrith-Nepean but with around fifteen minutes to go two goals came for them in two minutes.
First in the 72? minute a Penrith corner was flicked on at the near post for Kanyilmaz to pounce on at the far post and score despite the best attempts of the defence to crowd him out. Then two minutes later Nathan Ralph cracked a stunning shot from outside the area that was still getting faster when it hit the back of the net.
From nowhere Penrith were now ahead and they would have to hold on as Marconi came forward in large numbers. In the 79? minute Luke Casserly had a close-range effort go over the top. Through the next ten minutes Marconi came in waves only to be denied by the Penrith defence led by Ante Juric and Kanyilmaz. 
In the 85^? minute Chris Gomez cleared a Marconi attack off the line at the far post but it was in injury-time that the real action occurred. Firstly a corner was only half-cleared yet again and Nahuel Arrarte fired form just outside the area again only to be denied by a magnificent diving save by Chad Taylor.
Then Marconi had numbers unmarked on the far post and when the ball fell that way they fired goalwards only for Tayfun Buyukkopru (yet another ex-Marconi youth player) to get his body in the way and deny them a goal.
Having not learnt from those warnings with the very last passage of play, Penrith left players at the back post unmarked and from a corner the ball finally fell across to them and Ante Deur had time to stop, check and place the ball into the back of the net to conclude the game – literally two passes before the full time whistle was blown by referee Peter Vrtkovski.
After the match Abbas Saad was devastated:
?This is the most disappointed I have been all season, we work hard to get back into the match and then dumb football on our part lets Marconi back in the match.?
Marconi coach David Barrett was also disappointed:
?We have come into scoring goals but have now conceded silly goals. Poor marking has cost us yet again this week.?
Overall it was a very exciting game for the neutral fan and a draw was a fair result for both sides.
Ironically however, both teams would be extremely disappointed with the result as they both led and had the chance to progress further up the TeleChoice Premier League table but this result seemingly halts any chance either side have of making a late run and getting into the top-five this season.
Match Stats     
Penrith-Nepean United 3 (Jason Browne 32?, Ozgur Kanyilmaz 72?, Nathan Ralph 74?)
Marconi Stallions 3 (Vuko Tomasevic 24?, Tolgay Ozbey 53?, Ante Deur 92?)
Venue: CUA Stadium Penrith
Crowd: 800
Referee: Peter Vrtkovski
Penrith-Nepean United: 1. Chad Taylor, 2. William Stuart (4. Ryan O?Shea 88?), 5. Luke Boyd, 28. Ante Juric, 9. Carl McNaughton, 23. Devrim Huseyin (7. Javier Mancino 60?) 6. Nathan Ralph, 17. Ozgur Kanyilmaz, 19. Jason Browne, 29. Panagiotis Nikas (10. Tayfun Buyukkopru 79?), 3. Christopher Gomez
Substitutes Not Used: 14. Stewart Van Bentum, 42. Daniel Schwarzer
Yellow Cards: Jason Browne 51?
Red Cards: Nil
Marconi Stallions: 1. James Chronopoulos; 2. Wade Oostendorp, 3. Vuko Tomasevic, 6. Luke Casserly, 9. Kain Rastall (11. Matthew Gordon 75?), 10. Tolgay Ozbey, 13. Ante Deur, 23. Christopher Nunes (12. Stefan Donevski 46?), 24. Zac Cairncross (18. Jason Trifiro 75?), 26. Nahuel Arrarte, 38. Umut Tokdogan
Substitutes Not Used: 15. Tim McGowan, 20. Cem Akilli
Yellow Cards: Kain Rastall 51? Zac Cairncross 65?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Jason Browne (PNU)
2 – Tolgay Ozbey (MS)
1 – Ozgur Kanyilmaz (PNU)
-By Stuart Jones