Blacktown City surpass Stallions for sole-hold on second spot

The first goal was scored in the opening 3? minutes of the match. The ball was played over the top and looked like James Chronopoulos would get there first though Ozbey sniffed out half a chance. He chased down the ball and as Chronopoulos bent down to pick the ball up, Ozbey got his foot to it first, kicked it out and placed the ball into the back of the net. Lee Sterrey after the match reflected on just how much of a gift this was, as his defence watched and waited rather than trying to stop Ozbey?s progress.

A minute later Blacktown almost broke again as Ozbey took on the defence and played the ball across to Joel Chianese, though the ball was cut out by the defence and away from danger.
3? minutes later it was Marconi who nearly scored. Sean O?Connell put the ball in from the right but Alex Canak could not get to it and Matt Ryan, in the Blacktown City goal, stopped the attack.
On the 10? minutes Canak had a claim for an infringement on the edge of the penalty-area denied by referee James Lewis.
Ozbey was on the scoreboard again in the 23? minute when he scored from a free-kick. He drove the ball through the Marconi defensive wall and with Chronopoulos unable to see the ball until the last moment, the ball went past him and nestled in the back of the net.
Just after the half-hour, Lee Sterrey made two substitutions and changed the Marconi  formation to attack Blacktown, though despite more possession Marconi could not make inroads in the attacking third of the field.
Just prior to the break, Lachlan Cahill could not make full use of good lead up work from Long, Chianese and Ozbey and then Erick Anabalon was denied thanks to a last ditch tackle from Matt Pressello.
In the opening minute of the second stanza Blacktown were at it again with Cahill chipping the ball through to Chianese who went on the attack only for him to slide the ball to the far post where he did not have a team-mate waiting for him.
Then in minute 51? Ozbey chased a long ball down, rounded his marker and smashed the ball past the goalkeeper, but onto the cross bar – a spectacular effort that deserved more than it got. This play again exemplified the excellent work that was going on between Long and Chianese in the middle of the park, as well as the predatory skills of Ozbey up front.
At the other end of the field Stallions? captain Matthew Gordon just failed to get to a ball that came across the face of goal with Gordon just metres from the target. For Marconi this marked a strong period of domination but it seemed they were not destined to score. This was exemplified on the hour when Zac Cairncross made an excellent tackle to deny Marconi an attacking opportunity.
Marconi seemingly reverted to shots from distance with an effort from Tim McGowan unable to affect the scoreboard. However, in the 62? minute that was to change. A free-kick was given to Marconi and whilst the Blacktown players argued Canak took it quickly. Jagelman brought the ball down and chipped Matt Ryan, placing the ball in the back of the net with great skill.
Marconi were back in the game and for the next period of time they dominated possession with quality ball in the attacking third. Again, it came to nothing and the next real actual shot came from the boot of substitute Jordan Simpson, who fired the ball well over the crossbar.
Marconi had not learnt their lesson at the back though and in the 73? minute Ozbey jumped onto a great through ball, rounded his marker and fired the ball past the Marconi goalkeeper and into the roof of the net.
3? minutes later Deur and Ozbey combined and almost made it four goals to the home team.
The third goal knocked the stuffing out of the Marconi players and it took them some time to recover. In the meantime they had lost Brenton Rhodes for a second bookable offence.
In the 88? minute Anabalon and McGowan combined, as McGowan tried to chip the goalkeeper but this time Ryan made himself very big and shut down the chance. The ball then seemed to come off the hand of Cairncross in the area but the cries for a penalty were quickly dismissed by referee Lewis.
A couple of late chances went Blacktown?s way but they came to nothing and in the end the scoreline stayed at 3-1.
For Marconi it was a disappointing day at the office all round and the loss saw them leapfrogged by their opponents. Lee Sterrey reflected this disappointment after the match:
?You can come out of the shed all ready to go but when you give the ball away like we did in the first minute it is all for nothing.
?The second and third goals were also gifts to Blacktown. Our execution at the front of the park was terrible today. At the other end we simply can not afford to give the ball away as easily as we did.?
Blacktown City assistant coach Mark Crittenden was delighted with the result:
?It was an important win for us today. Marconi was always going to be difficult to beat but we equipped ourselves well today.
?If we had lost we would have been in traffic chasing a top five position, but a win, combined with other results, has seen us sit in second place tonight.?
The earlier Grade-20 match finished goalless.

Match Stats
Blacktown City FC 3 (Ozbey 3?, 22?, 73?)
Marconi Stallions 1 (Jagelman 62?)
Sunday, 4th July 2010
Lily Homes Stadium, Seven Hills

Referee: James LEWIS
Assistant Referees: David MORRIS and Mike ROBERTSON
Fourth Official: Nathan ROBERTS
Crowd: 350
Blacktown City FC: 20.Matt RYAN; 2.Tyler SIMPSON, 4.Mirko JURILJ, 17.Joel CHIANESE, 11.Mitchell LONG, 19.Tolgay OZBEY, 16.Ante DEUR, 13.Lachlan CAHILL, (10.Jordan SIMPSON 68?), 6.Matt PRESSELLO (12.Bernie IBINI 80?), 22.Zac CAIRNCROSS, 23.Luke AUSTIN (18.Travis MAJOR 59?)
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Matt NEMES, 8.Chris BEDZO
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Marconi Stallions: 22.James CHRONOPOULOS; 2.Brenton RHODES, 5.Abel  ELJAMAL, 7.Timothy MCGOWAN, 8.Alex CANAK, 11.Matthew GORDON (31.Mitchell MALLIA 59?), 18.Jared LUM (9.Erick ANABALON 33?), 23.Christopher NUNES, 26.Nahuel ARRARTE, 39.Sean OCONNELL (34.Nathan JAGELMAN 33?) 42.Giorgio SPERANZA
Substitutes Not Used: 4.Umut TOKDOGAN, 21.Jose BELLO AMIGO
Yellow Cards: Rhodes 21?, 84? Speranza 25?
Red Cards: Rhodes 84?
– Stuart Jones