Sharks maintain 100% record with victory over Stallions
The first real blooded effort came after 5? minutes when Matthew Mayora fired in a stinging shot from 25-yards that had Nathan Denham down sharply to his right at full stretch at the base of the post to smother.
The Sharks hit back and when Panni Nikas stole the ball in midfield and surged toward goal the defence seemed to back off before slipping a pass out to Yianni Fragogianis on the right wing to send over a cross that was headed clear by Adel El-Jamal. In the ensuing melee, Nikas again found Fragogianis, this time on the angle of the box, who sent in a rasping shot that curled just wide of goal as the home side mounted plenty of pressure in the opening exchanges.
Chris Price put in a delightful chipped ball that Matt Bailey headed down toward goal but James Chronopoulos was quick to react as Marconi struggled to get out of their half.
Timothy McGowan showed plenty of spirit and was involved in most things good for Marconi and when he chipped into the box it was Matthew Gordon who failed to make a clean contact with his header in what was the best opportunity for his side after 18? minutes.
Nick Stavroulakis latched onto another loose Marconi ball and made a bee-line for goal but again the Sharks were unlucky. With Chronopoulos beaten, the post came to the rescue with Nikas having a shot cleared off the line moments later as the Stallions began to teeter but managing to retain parity with the question being asked if they could do so for the remaining 60? minutes.
Fragogianis put Bailey in space when beating the offside trap but before he could be closed down another shot whistled wide of the sticks as Marconi began to ride their luck. Some poor finishing of a rampant Sharks side too was telling.
Michael Katz then burst into the penalty-area and pulled the ball back for Nikas, whose shot was blocked. The resulting ball fell to Nick Tsattalios to test the goalkeeper who did extremely well under close attention.
Marconi, on their all too infrequent visits forward, were reduced mainly to long range efforts with captain Nahuel Arrarte firing wide on a couple of occasions and it was against the run of play when they hit the front after a cross from the left wasn?t cleared properly. Graziano Trimboli followed up and fired home from the edge of the box to give the visitors an unlikely lead they took into the half-time break.
It was the same story after the break when Tsattalios went on a run down the left and cut into the box before firing wide as the Sharks continued their forward thrust as Marconi began to up the tempo. The Stallions kept the 4-5-1 formation that had paid huge dividends when they were forced to weather the storm.
El-Jamal, playing strongly in defence for Marconi, retired injured to be replaced by Umut Tokdagon with 52? minutes gone to slot into the hole left by the rugged defender but he was left powerless when Nikas put through a 35-yard pass to Tsattalios with the outside of his foot. The winger was able to power onto and fire home with a shot that threatened to break the netting with Sam Awad adding a second for the home side 3? minutes later when Chronopoulos looked to fumble the ball for the striker to pounce on with a toe-poke that trickled over the line, and the Marconi shot-stopper cautioned for his protestations afterwards.
Marconi were forced to change the system and slipped to a more traditional 4-4-2 formation that would have made little difference had Bailey been able to tuck away a neat pass from Awad, but with half chances coming sporadically it was a helter-skelter and somewhat nervy finish to an enthralling match.
A disconsolate Stallions assistant coach Darren Iocca said afterwards:
?I think the boys gave us 100% and 2? minutes of madness and we?re losing.
?I feel there was a foul on our ?keeper, the ball was kicked from his hands but it?s something we have to take on the chin and move on from and get ready for next week.
?We?ve trained well all week, have a few niggling injuries to players and have played 4-games in 13-days before coming to Sutherland for this one and it?s a lot of toll on the players bodies but we?ll pick ourselves up and be ready for the next game.?
Robbie Stanton looked a relieved Sharks manager when adding:
?It feels a little like Groundhog Day at the moment where we are doing enough to keep ourselves in the game each week and half-time we turn in and talk about what we need to do, speed things up, do it quicker and have more conviction in what we?re doing like take the players on instead of being hesitant.
?We look to be positive, and today we got two quick goals in the second-half and it?s a different story.
?As I?ve said I don?t think we are playing our best football yet and the players are capable of so much more because we are playing it in patches so sooner or later it?s going to click for us but at the moment I can?t really have any complaints and I?m happy with the three points.
In the Grade-20 division, Sutherland Sharks and Marconi Stallions played out a thrilling match with the visitors scoring the only goal of the game. 1-0 to the Stallions.
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks 2 (Tsattalios 55?, Awad 58?)
Marconi Stallions 1 (Trimboli 42?)
Saturday 14th May, 2011
Seymour Shaw Football Park, Miranda
Referee: Ryan Shepherd
Assistant Referees: Alex Long and Thomas Lee
Fourth Official: Alex Goodhew
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 2.George Souris (C), 4.Yianni Fragogianis (11.Todd Haloran 78), 6.Sam Awad (5.Lachlan Cahill 78), 8.Chris Price,10.Matt Bailey, 14.Nick Stavroulakis, 15.Michael Katz, 20.Paul Kohler, 23.Panni Nikas, 33.Nick Tsattalios
Substitutes Not Used: 3.Tyson Rhodes, 37.Ehsan Popal, 22.Jack Duncan
Yellow Cards: Kohler 27?
Red Cards: Nil
Marconi Stallions: 22.James Chronopoulos; 2.Andrew Mailer, 5.Adel El Jamal (4.Umut Tokdagon 52), 6.Brenton Rhodes, 7.Timothy McGowan (18.Nathan Jagelman 73), 11.Matthew Gordon, 14.Graziano Trimboli (20.Gosue Sama 78), 15.Matthew Mayora, 23.Christopher Nunes, 24.Daniel Petrovski, 26.Nahuel Arrarte (C)
Substitutes Not Used: 12.Daniel Ott, 21.Nikodin Matic
Yellow Cards: Chronopoulos 58?, Mailer 67?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 ? Panni Nikas (SS)
2 ? Nick Tsattalios (SS)
1 ? Chris Price (SS)
-By Micky Brock
