Stallions spoil Foxe’s 300th appearance
Foxe, the brother of former Socceroo Hayden, made his debut for the club on the 6th of July, 1993 against Canberra Olympic and was honoured by past teammates and Football NSW General Manager Ian Holmes before the game, in-front of what was a stronger-than-usual Blacktown home crowd.
Keen to build on a gutsy scoreless draw away against the Sutherland Sharks last week, and to deliver a memorable milestone match for their club legend, the Demons began the match brightly, pressing their opponents and forcing the Stallions to rely on some rather desperate defending in their own penalty area.
However, the Stallions gradually worked their way into the match, looking considerably more comfortable on the ball than their hosts.
They should have taken the lead on 19? minutes when a quickly-taken free-kick released Ivorian Ousame Toure down the right-flank, the ball slipped into the path of Erick Anabalon.
The striker did superbly well to wriggle his way to the byline before cutting the ball back for captain Nahuel Arrarte through a crowd of bodies, both of his relatively weak efforts on goal blocked from close-range.
Ken Schembri?s side weren?t without an attacking threat of their own though, committing bodies forward on the break and themselves coming close to an opener just three minutes later.
Ray Miller began the move with a superb diagonal ball to an unmarked Ante Deur, who proceeded to cut in-field and play a reverse ball for Chris Bedzo into the penalty-area, the forward?s angled strike parried by goalkeeper James Chronopoulos who then smothered the ball bravely at the second attempt.
Despite being outclassed in midfield by their technically proficient opponents, the Demons will have been disappointed with the manner in which they conceded.
Having lost Kain Rastall to a second yellow card on 28? minutes for a late challenge, a seemingly harmless 29? minute free-kick was floated into the Blacktown penalty-area from deep, goalkeeper Brody Crane electing to climb over a cluster of bodies and punch the ball away.
It proved the wrong decision however, the shot-stopper failing to reach the ball, his weak attempt at a clearance falling to the feet of Arrarte who volleyed sharply into an empty net for a 1-0 lead.
Being dominated both territorially and in terms of possession thanks largely to their numerical disadvantage, the home team still managed to forge a couple of genuine goal-scoring chances for themselves before the end of the break.
Their first fell to Ray Miller on 33? minutes, slipped into the penalty-area by Bedzo before cutting onto his right foot and curling the ball agonizingly wide of the far post with Chronopoulos statuesque.
With the match momentarily opening up, Damien Foxe missed an interception moments later that gifted Toure a chance, the lively winger turning his man before disappointingly lifting the ball over the crossbar.
With a numerical advantage the Stallions to enjoy the space afforded to them, with the likes of Iraqi Ali Abbas Al Hilfi and Nahuel Arrarte thriving on the ball.
It was the powerful figure of Ben Vidaic who next came closest for Lee Sterrey?s side however, seeing his looping header from a Toure cross hit the top of the crossbar with Crane struggling.
Striker Erik Anabolon would find the net on 38? minutes to deservedly extend his side?s lead, just reward also for a selfless individual performance.
Having spent the evening dropping deep and providing a focal point for his team?s attacks, he profited from a loose ball in the area, taking the ball around a helpless Crane before slotting it coolly inside the right post.
With the Demons struggling to get out of their own half, the imperious Arrarte somehow contrived to miss the chance for a third goal, opting to chest a half-volleyed Canak cross towards goal, only to see it smothered from inside the six-yard box by Crane.
There would be one chance for Blacktown to reduce the deficit before the second period, creating their best chance with a brilliant piece of play on the stroke of half-time.
In a move that deserved a goal, Joel Chianese was slipped into the area by Bedzo after the striker received the ball from Casserly, his first effort saved well by Chronopoulos but his rebound inexplicably weak and straight back at the goalkeeper.
Down to ten men and up against a side laden with attacking quality, the second half was always going to be difficult for Blacktown and Marconi set about immediately pushing for a decisive third goal.
They almost took the lead just three minutes in, a brilliant curled effort from the corner of the penalty box by Canak just clearing the crossbar with Crane fully stretched.
His dribbling irrepressible, the sight of Ousame Toure bursting into the right side of the penalty-area became all-too familiar for the hosts, the Ivorian rolling the ball across the face of goal for Anabalon to dummy brilliantly, Vidaic hitting a weak effort into the ?keeper?s legs on 49? minutes.
Nine minutes later and Toure would this time set up Arrarte after dancing his way into the box, the latter?s strike well saved by the increasingly occupied Crane.
With Blacktown failing to present any attacking threat, Canak saw a driven effort tipped over the crossbar before glancing a header wide after arriving late to meet a Toure header at the far post.
Those misses almost immediately came back to haunt the visitors, as former A-League man Tyler Simpson missed a wonderful chance to pull a goal back on 71? minutes.
From virtual obscurity Ante Deur found space on the right flank with the Demons outnumbering Marconi in the penalty-area. He sensibly rolled the ball into the path of the advancing Simpson, whose first touch was poor, allowing his effort to be deflected wide for a corner.
It was a miss exacerbated in the 77? minute by Marconi?s third goal, Iraqi import Ali Al-Hilfi capping an impressive performance with a fine finish after Blacktown?s inability to deal with a ball in from the left, Crane keeping the score at 3-0 with a brilliant one-handed save minutes later from Anabalon.
Milestone man Damien Foxe was then booked by the referee what appeared to be dissent, subsequently replaced by manager Ken Schembri, in a moment that summed up another miserable evening for the home team.
Marconi substitute Chris Nunes was then shown a second yellow card after a 50-50 challenge in midfield, the visitors closing out their evening otherwise comfortably against a Blacktown outfit whose promising start deteriorated as they suffered a second loss at Gabbie Stadium this season.
A typically discerning Ken Schembri was nonetheless pleased with his side?s start to the game but lamented the red card handed out to Kain Rastall:
?The first 30? minutes was pretty good but when you play with ten men for the last hour it makes things pretty difficult,? Schembri said.
?It?s difficult to play with ten men for that period of time and things unravelled.
?We were creating chances with ten men but if you don?t score goals ? we haven?t scored a goal in the competition ? at the end of the day you?ve got to take your chances and if you don?t, you get punished.
?The boys are pretty disappointed, the game was ruined as a spectacle for a reasonable crowd, lots of people were interested and it would have been nice if it was eleven against eleven and we all got on with it.
Marconi boss Lee Sterrey, despite his side?s victory, insisted there was work to be done after watching ten-man Blacktown create a number of chances against his side:
?We?ve got plenty of areas where we need to improve,? Sterrey said.
?We were eleven against ten and they still had goal-scoring chances, which shouldn?t happen.
?Jimmy [James] Chronopoulos was outstanding in goals, he pulled off two great saves tonight.
?There?s a lot of work to be done.?
Match Stats
Blacktown City Demons 0
Marconi Stallions 3 (Arrarte 29?, Anabalon 38?, Al-Hilfi 77?)
Sunday, 15th March, 2009
Gabbie Stadium, Blacktown
Blacktown City Demons: 46.Brody CRANE; 2.Tyler SIMPSON, 3.Paul KARBON, 4.Damien FOXE (5.Daniel WILKINSON 81?), 6.Luke CASSERLY, 8.Chris BEDZO (14. Gavin FORBES 59?), 9.Kain RASTALL, 15.Ray MILLER, 16.Ante DEUR, 17.Joel CHIANESE, 18.Akwasi AGYEI (13.Ben ELLIS 59?)
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Matt RYAN, 19.Luke AUSTIN
Yellow Cards: Carbon 14?, Rastall 22?, 28?, Agyesi 49?, Forbes 81?, Foxe 81?
Red Cards: Rastall 28?
Marconi Stallions: 22.James CHRONOPOULOS; 6.Vuko TOMASEVIC, 4.Umut TORDOGAN, 5.Adel ELJAMAL, 8.Alex CANAK, 26.Nahuel ARRARTE (23.Chris NUNES 59?), 18.Graziano TRIMBOLI, 9.Erick ANABALON, 10.Ali AL-HILFI, 7.Ousame TOURE (2.Wade OOSTENDORP 69?), 13.Ben VIDAIC (15.Tim MCGOWAN 77?)
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Cem AKILI, 25.Dominic TRIMBOLI
Yellow Cards: Trimboli 74?, Nunes 81?, 88?
Red Cards: Nunes 88?
Player Ratings:
3 ? Ousame Toure (MS)
2 ? Nahuel Arrarte (MS)
1 ? Ali Abbas Al Hilfi (MS)
-By Chris Paraskevas
