Stallions overpower Bankstown City at Jensen Park

The match was a battle between two new coaches for these two clubs, and it was the Stallions? Luke Casserly who came away with maximum points.
It took time for both sides to get into the match and the early exchanges were interrupted by constant fouling from both teams.
In the 10? minute Nunes, Sean O?Connell and Keith Shevlin combined with brilliant one-touch play but the final ball was just too long and the chance went begging.
Marconi had a couple more half-chances in the next 10? minutes but Bankstown were able to make sure they came to nothing. Indeed, Bankstown grew in confidence and started playing good football, although chances for them were also few and far between. Their best play came from the back moving forward with strong defence from David Gardiner and Peter Peralta initiating much of the good possessional play.
The home side looked as if they could convert their good period in the match when on 25? minutes Chris Petrovski made a strong run down the right and passed it to Eric Nyamekye who laid the ball deep to the feet of Nathan Ristevski. It seemed like Ristevski had all the time in the world but his shot curled past the target in what was the best chance of the match to that point.
Following a few more half-chances for both sides, Ristevski made amends in the 38? minute for his earlier miss. A Steven Bozinovski run saw the ball end up at the feet of Ristevksi and this time the Bankstown midfielder made no mistake as he slid the ball into the far corner to give the home side the lead.
Marconi then had to withstand a couple of minutes of strong attack from Bankstown before delivering a body blow to the home team just before half-time. Nunes had played the ball to Matthew Mayora and the former Sydney Olympic player tried to chip Zlatko Joseski in goal only for Bankstown to clear the attempt straight back at the unmarked Nunes. With time on the ball, Nunes failed to connect cleanly with the ball, though he got enough behind it to beat his opponents, come off the post and spin into the back of the net for an unlikely equaliser.
If Bankstown had expected the game to be played at the tempo it was in the first-half they quickly discovered otherwise. Led by Nahuel Arrarte in the middle of the park, Marconi looked much stronger in the second period. Shortly after the re-start, Matthew Gordon had to come off because of dizzy spells, and he was replaced by Mitchell Mallia. Mallia?s impact was immediate as within minutes of coming on had set up the goal which put Marconi in front. His cross from the left was met by Nahuel Arrarte who demonstrated once more why he was the master of shots from distance as he smashed the ball through traffic and into the back of the net.
Just before the hour, Mallia was at it again as he fired from point-blank range at the near post only to be denied by Zlatko Joseski with one of his trade mark jumping saves as he pushed the ball over the top of the target.
Mallia then demonstrated his versatility by swapping to the opposite flank where he was equally as dangerous, constantly asking questions of the Bankstown City defence.
Despite Marconi?s strong performance Bankstown were not to be taken lightly and the side threatened to draw level in the 62? minute when Bozinovski and Omar Saadi combined to send Ristevski goalwards. He seemed to do the wrong thing by stepping over the ball back into traffic but somehow got free in the box and was able to hit the byline and cross the ball back into the centre of the area. Unfortunately for the home side, there were no team mates to be seen and the opportunity was lost.
In the 66? minute Mayora broke but was denied by Joseski, and after a raft of substitutions the two sides had to settle back into the game.
Danny Wilson came on and looked particularly good down the right flank but he was to be involved in a clash that saw team mate Ristevski sent off. Both Wilson and Ristevski went for a ball when two Marconi players were over it and Ristevski saw red as he was adjudged to have jumped into his Marconi opponent, leaving the home side with 10-men for the remaining 14? minutes.
The Stallions may have dominated field position but they created no clear cut chances until the 82? minute when Mallia and O?Connor played a great one-two only for Mallia to see his shot just deviate from the desired path.
Minutes shy of the 90? minute mark, Bankstown could have snatched a point. Bozinovski pounced on a Marconi half clearance and played a magnificent ball to put Hussein Salameh clear. Salameh, who had run valiantly all day for little reward, had the chance to put the ball across the path of James Chronopoulos, though the ball finished on the wrong side of the up-right.
In the closing seconds of the match Marconi scored a third goal as substitute Nicola Sama crossed the ball in from the left to his brother Giosue Sama, also a substitute on the night, where he tapped in at the far post to cap off a good result for the Stallions.
Marconi boss Luke Casserly was delighted with the result although he was also not taking things for granted in the coaching game:
?I was not happy with the energy level at half-time tonight but we really stepped it up in the second-half.
?Still we were lucky at times, 3-1 sounds a great result but at 2-1 and down to ten men they had a great opportunity to equalise. It is always tough to come here and get a result so I am pleased about that.
?We have bought some experienced players to the club to help us and we have some exciting young players coming through. Our left back, Daniel Petrovksi, is 17 and played very well tonight. 
?Mitchell Mallia also made a huge impact when he came on tonight. Our next challenge is Sydney United so things do not get any easier.?
Bankstown coach Blagoja Kuleski was disappointed with the result but tried to keep upbeat about it:
?Marconi is one of the best teams in the country, for us to lose to a great team like them it is no disgrace. We lost a few boys this week and we were down on our luck tonight.
?Of course we are disappointed but we need to work hard so that we can turn things around next week.?
Marconi Stallions started the night in great fashion with a 1-0 win over Bankstown in the Grade-20 division.
Match Stats
Bankstown City 1 (Nathan Ristevski 38?)
Marconi Stallions 3 (Chris Nunes 42?, Nahuel Arrarte 56?, Giosue Sama 90?)
Sunday, 27th March 2011, 6pm
Jensen Park, Sefton
Referee: Kris Griffiths-Jones
Assistant Referees: Nick Backo and Cameron Bruce
Fourth Official: Michael Weeiner
Crowd: 450
Bankstown City: 1.Zlatko Joseski; 2.Omar Saadi, 3.Chris Petrovski (18.Lennox Tweneboa 73?), 5.David Gardiner (11.Danny Wilson 63?), 20.Daniel Slaveski, 8.Peter Peralta, 14.Nathan Ristevski, 15.Steven Bozinovski, 19.Steve Krteski, 10.Hussein Salameh, 13.Eric Nyamekye (9.David Nastoski 63?).
Substitutes Not Used: 17.Jordan Nikolovski, 44.D Zeleny
Yellow Cards: David Gardiner 61?, Steven Bozinovski 71?
Red Cards: Nathan Ristevski 76?  
Marconi Stallions: 22.James Chronopoulos; 4.Umut Tokdogan, 5.Abel El Jamal, 8.Sean O?Connell, 9.Keith Shevlin (10.Nicola Sama 87?), 11.Matthew Gordon (17.Mitchell Mallia 53?), 15.Matthew Mayora (16.Giosue Sama 68?), 23.Chris Nunes, 7.Andrew Mailer, 25.Daniel Petrovski, 26.Nahuel Arrarte.
Substitutes Not Used: 2. Brenton Rhodes, 1. Nikoden Matic.
Yellow Cards: Keith Shevlin 43?, Chris Nunes 57?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Nahuel Arrarte (MS)
2 – Peter Peralta (BC)
1 – Mitchell Mallia (MS)
-By Stuart Jones