Stallions and Sharks grab point after draw
However, after taking the lead the Stallions may have thought they were destined for all three points until a late penalty provided the Sharks with the equalising goal.
It was a penalty that left Marconi?s coach Luke Casserly shaking his head. After the game he could not hide his disappointment at not managing to secure all three points.
?It?s really, really frustrating because we played against a team that was coming second in the comp and I thought we did really well? he said.
?I thought we did some decent stuff; they had one clear chance in the whole game whereas we had five or six chances and then there was the penalty.
?We lost two points but we paid the price for not taking our chances and, of course, one little thing can change the whole game.
?To come out of this game with only a point makes me feel sorry for the boys because they worked so hard, stuck to the game plan really well and put in a super performance.?
Across the corridor Sutherland Sharks mentor Robbie Stanton, himself a former Marconi player, was somewhat more philosophical about the game and made it clear that, from his point of view, Sutherland deserved at least a draw.
?We wanted to come here and get three points but the rain opened up early and made the pitch a bit slipperier,? he said.
?We probably didn?t turn up in the first-half with the right attitude as we were a bit switched off because our disjointed week, but in the second-half we got our act together.
?I thought we were a bit more dominant and, in the end, a draw is probably a fair result.?
Stanton was having none of the talk that his team may have been fortunate. When questioned about it, he made it clear that luck doesn?t exist in football.
?If you look at their goal it came off a deflection from our bloke; you make your own luck and they made theirs there.
?For our goal, we drove into the box and we got the penalty. I don?t believe in luck because if opportunities happen, you are doing good things.?
On to the game itself and after an early torrential shower that saw referee Kurt Ams consult one of his assistants, Sarah Ho, about the weather and the suitability of playing in it, the game slowed down to a real crawl.
The best was a shot by Matthew Gordon in the 23? minute that was slightly off target, before Panni Nikas for the visitors curled a lovely free-kick over the wall but was denied by a nice diving save from James Chronopoulos.
In the 35? minute Matt Bailey tried his luck with a powerful drive from outside the box, but was unsuccessful by only a narrow margin.
A few minutes later Marconi took the lead really out of nothing when the ball bounced in the box and, despite the presence of two Sutherland defenders, Josh Sama stretched out a foot and scored past the slow reacting Nathan Denham.
Marconi should really have scored again right at the end of the first half after Gordon made a quick dash down the right and cut the ball back inside.
Paul Kohler then made a meal of the clearance and Keith Shevlin, who ended up with the ball at his feet, proceeded to blast over from very close range.
In the end, it was a vibrant last few minutes in the first-half after a rather slow beginning to it.
The second period got underway in glorious sunshine which made for a real contrast to what was experienced earlier in the game.
In the 61? minute, after a corner kick, the ball made its way to the effervescent Nick Stavroulakis who fired in a powerful long distance shot that was well handled by Chronopoulos.
A dangerous cross by Sean O?Connell in the 75? minute could really have been anything except that it traversed the entire face of goal without a nudge in from any of his teammates.
However, only a few minutes later, as Mike Katz went into the box he was brought down by Umut Tokdogan and for referee Ams it was a penalty.
Nikas took the perfect penalty sending Chronopoulos the wrong way and scores were then even.
Dark clouds then gathered again over the stadium and, metaphorically at least, possibly over Marconi?s season.
Late in the game Nico Sama forced Denham into a good reflex save from close range as Marconi certainly looked to restore the lead.
Right at the death Nahuel Arrarte skyed a ball just inches over the crossbar as the Sutherland Sharks breathed a collective sigh of relief.
It wasn?t to be for Marconi despite the late chances and the Stallions supporters will be hoping that this result doesn?t mean it?s curtains for season 2011.
Meanwhile, in the Grade-20 match, Marconi Stallions defeated Sutherland Sharks 2-0.
Match Stats
Marconi Stallions 1 (Sama 38?)
Sutherland Sharks 1 (Nikas (pen) 79?)
Sunday 7th August, 2011
Marconi Stadium, Bossley Park
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: Sarah Ho and Mike Roberston
Fourth Official: Jamie Siogren
Marconi Stallions: 22.James Chronopoulos; 2.Andrew Mailer, 4.Umut Tokdogan, 6.Brenton Rhodes, 8.Sean O?Connell, 9.Keith Shevlin, 11.Matthew Gordon (18.Nathan Jagelman 84?), 20.Josh Sama, 23.Christopher Nunes (10.Nico Sama 71?), 24.Daniel Petkovski, 26.Nahuel Arrarte.
Substitutes Not Used: 3.Ali Haydar, 14.Graziano Trimboli, 40.Andrew Mercuri
Yellow Cards: Nunes 11?, Shevlin 51?, J. Sama 62?, Petkovski 81?, O?Connell 90?
Red Cards: Nil
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 2.George Souris (20.Paul Kohler 39?), 4.Yianni Fragogianis, 6.Sam Awad (7.Jim Bakis 54?), 8.Chris Price, 10.Matt Bailey, 11.Todd Halloran (55.Lachlan Cahill 78?), 12.Hayden Morton, 14.Nick Stavroulakis, 15.Mike Katz, 23.Panni Nikas.
Substitutes Not Used: 19.Hussein Jasli, 36.Andrew Depta
Yellow Cards: Price 90?
Red Cards: Nil
-By Joe Russo
