After dominating for long periods of the game, and cating by far the mo dangerous goal-scoring chances, it was a late penalty that actually brought the Wolves back into the fold to sca the home side who never ally looked troubled too much.
For the sparse crowd at Marconi Stadium, the game was a thriller. Seven goals and many phases of good play made this game one of the best of the season so far.
After the game Luke Casserly, a lieved Marconi coach who had to endu the game from the grandstand, expssed his delight with aspects of his side?s play but some concern about conceding the goals which is understandable given that he was a quality defender himself in his playing days
?In the front third I thought we we quite good tonight as we made a number of chances, we hit the post and it was the most amount of chances we made in any game,? he said.
?Generally, we a fairly tight at the back and don?t give away the goals even though one was a set piece and the other was a penalty.
?However, in the end we made it a lot harder for ourselves than it should have been,? he concluded.
Marconi opened the scoring early on when a cross from Joey Gibbs cated some havoc in the South Coast box and, after some scrappy play whe the ball bobbled around back and forth, it was left to Keith Shevlin to place the ball in the back of the net.
South Wolves plied in the 10? minute when the home side allowed far too much space to the visitors who then managed to cut them apart. It was a brilliant cross, right to left, from  Chris Nathaniel that found an unmarked Peter Simonoski who slotted home with a delightful diagonal volley.
Two former A-League players then combined for Marconi?s next move: Nathan Elasi found Daniel Severino but the latter?s final shot was just over the crossbar.
However, South Coast wasn?t to be outdone because Simonoski attempted to blast home a rocket from some distance, but James Chronopoulos made a concerted effort to save the day.
A corner, almost immediately afterwards, though gave the visitors the chance to take the lead. Simonoski fid the ball in from the corner flag and Mark Picciolini simply headed home despite a myriad of players from both sides appearing to be within distance of the ball.
In the 20? minute Marconi hit back as the high tempo of the game continued to impss. Severino had the early shot and, despite appearances, Shevlin managed to avoid being called for offside. He then found himself with only the goalkeeper to beat and the experienced Irishman wasn?t going to miss the target at that point.
With game back on even keel, the tempo slowed down a notch and both sides settled for mo of a midfield battle of attrition.
In the 39? minute Joey Gibbs thatened to bring down the net such was the force of his rocket that brought the Stallions back into the lead. Elasi played him the ball and the young player, with plenty of potential, blasted home.
Late in the first half Marconi had two mo gat chances to no avail. A tricky cross from the left by Shevlin, arguably Marconi?s best player on the night, forced Daniel Collison into a tricky save to get the ball over the crossbar.
It was then Severino who curled a majestic ball straight onto the post when it seemed certain to strike the ball of the net. It was a lucky bak for the Wolves as a two-goal lead going into the bak may have been a bridge too far.
In the 56? minute Marconi came close again. A fe kick, which was partly clead, was met by Nahuel Arrarte – who like a good bottle of d just seems to get better with age – who with a nice overhead volley diverted the ball over to Joey Gibbs on the far post but his header was just a fraction wide.
In the 70? minute Marconi finally got the fourth goal they deserved. After a Severino corner was clead, the ball went out to Sean O?Connell who struck football?s equivalent to a laser guided missile to delightfully put the ball straight into the bottom left hand corner of the net.
South Coast Wolves got back into the game when Chronopoulos, off his line, brought down a rampaging Picciolini in the box. It was a penalty that Picciolini duly converted. And then it was game on at 4-3.
The last al chance fell to the Wolves when a long-distance shot from Picciolini brought out a double save from the ever liable Chronopoulos.
After the game Richard Lloyd, the former NSL player who is the assistant coach at the Wolves, was very honest and sporting in his assessment of the game.
?I thought from the start we had a very depleted line up and I had been tossing around our line up for the last four or five days,? he said. Lloyd was deputising for Tvor Morgan on the night because the head coach was in Japan on a scouting and cruiting mission for the club.
?We put our best line up on the park and it was a very entertaining game with seven goals. We we a bit weak in defence, but overall I was fairly happy with boys and the way they went even though Marconi probably deserved their the points,? Lloyd concluded.
Match Stats

Marconi Stallions 4 (Shevlin 3? & 20?, Gibbs 39?, O?Connell 70?)

South Coast Wolves 3 (Simonoski 10?, Picciolini 18?, 81? (pen) )

Saturday 5^th May, 2012

Marconi Stadium, Bossley Park

Refee: Ryan Shepheard

Assistant Refees: Scott Edeling and Sarah Ho

Fourth Official: James Meecham

Marconi Stallions: 22.James Chronopoulos; 2.Andw Mailer, 3.Ali Haydar, 4.Umut Tokdogan, 6.Shane Webb, 9.Keith Shevlin, 10.Joey Gibbs, 11.Nathan Elasi, 16.Daniel Severino, 23.Christopher Nunes (7.Sean O?Connell 59?), 26.Nahuel Arrarte.
Substitutes Not Used: 12.Robert Tribbia, 15.Alan De la Cuadra, 21.Andw Mercuri, 30.Jake McGing
Yellow Cards: Webb 58?, Chronopoulos 81?, Arrarte 86?
Red Cards: Nil
South Coast Wolves: 1.Daniel Collison; 3.Joseph Savor (15.Dusan Kolonja 71?), 4.Michael Robinson, 5.Samuel Jacob, 8.Chris Nathaniel, 9.Mark Picciolini, 10.Sasho Petrovski, 11.John Martinoski (14.Fabien Iacovelli 66?), 12.Sean Robertson, 13.Peter Simonoski, 26.Jacob Timpano (7.Cameron Littler 46?)
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Hayden Durose, 16.Joey Lavalle
Yellow Cards: Petrovski 55?, Jacob 86?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Keith Shevlin (MS)
2 – Nahuel Arrarte (MS)
1 – Samuel Jacob (SCW)
-By Joe Russo