Bonnyrigg’s clinical finishing puts Stallions to the sword
Bonnyrigg is a team that doesn?t forgive and Marconi paid a dear price early in the second-half when, in the space of 18? minutes, Robbie Younis managed to score his hat-trick and place a dagger through the heart of the Stallions.
Bonnyrigg, under the astute guidance of Brian Brown and Cliff Pointer, punished the Stallions at Marconi Stadium. One team made a few simple errors at crucial times and the other took full advantage without giving anything away.
After the game the always modest Brian Brown said that he wasn?t expecting to win by such a big margin.
?No, no, not at all,? he said. ?We thought that if we didn?t give anything away defensively and score we?d be good.
?In the first-half they probably started better than us, but we got ourselves back into the game and we made a few chances in the first-half as well, but you always expect a tough game here.
?We have a young team and coming here could be a bit intimidating especially with Marconi having a few ex Bonnyrigg players.
?They?re professional our young boys and they stood up. The two young guys in the middle of our defence, [David] Vrankovic and [Alex] Mansueto, I thought were outstanding.?
Bonnyrigg White Eagles opened the scoring in the 16? minute when a Robbie Younis corner was met by the head of a Marconi defender who inadvertently flicked it straight into the path of Harris Gaitatzis who simply headed home.
Marconi?s reply was almost immediate when Jamie McMaster found himself all alone in front of the opposing goalkeeper, but somehow he shot over the crossbar. It?s moments like this that had the Marconi faithful scratching their heads.
James Chronopoulos was called into action in the 33? minute to get down low and save well from a Gaitatzis shot before Marconi replied a few minutes later: Nathan Elasi did all the good lead-up work and Joey Gibbs had the ball in the back of the net, but the assistant referee had raised the flag for a marginal offside call.
It was then Gibbs who turned provider late in the half for Elasi who had avoided the offside play and found himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Ben McNamara, but his shot couldn?t penetrate the reliable shot stopper of the visitors.
Early in the second-half Younis scored the first of his three goals. A long ball was poorly dealt with by the Marconi defence and Younis, pouncing on the spot, simply stole the ball and slotted home.
In the 53? minute Andrew Mailer set up Gibbs for another good attempt but once again McNamara was up to the task. Moments later Marconi tried again: a powerful low drive by Gibbs was delightfully turned away for a corrner by Gibbs.
Marconi didn?t give up and in the 61? minute Shevlin from the centre of box fired just wide of the mark. However, shortly afterwards Younis pounced again.
An accurate Ken Chun cross from the left was met by an opportunistic Younis who headed home. And, then a minute later, referee Kris Griffith Jones awarded a penalty when Younis was brought down by Christopher Nunes. The ever present and revitalised striker took the spot kick himself and sent Chronopoulos the wrong way. It was then all over bar the shouting.
After the game a shattered Luke Casserly, coach of Marconi, couldn?t really believe what he had just witnessed.
?I have really mixed feeling because for large patches of the game our boys played really quite well and they made a number of good chances,? he said.
?Obviously we haven?t taken any of those chances and it feels that almost every opportunity that Bonnyrigg got, they punished us and for a couple of those opportunities we handed it to them. They were simple errors that shouldn?t happen at this level.
?I thought at half time that we were still well in this game because the general play was good ? we had some great chances and a goal disallowed but no result. If you don?t take your chances, you get punished.?
Match Stats
Marconi Stallions 0
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 4 (Gaitatzis 16?, Younis 48?, 64?, 66? (pen) )
Saturday 19th May, 2012
Marconi Stadium, Bossley Park
Referee: Kris Griffith-Jones
Assistant Referees: Sarah Ho and Adam Coombes
Fourth Official: Nathan Roberts
Marconi Stallions: 22.James Chronopoulos; 2.Andrew Mailer, 4.Umut Tokdogan, 6.Shane Webb, 9.Keith Shevlin (15.Alan De la Cuadra 78?), 10.Joey Gibbs, 11.Nathan Elasi, 18.Jamie McMaster (16.Daniel Severino 55?), 19.Damien Travis (7.Sean O?Connell 67?), 23.Christopher Nunes, 26.Nahuel Arrarte.
Substitutes Not Used: 3.Ali Haydar, 40.Andrew Mercuri
Yellow Cards: Webb 21?
Red Cards: Nil
Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 1.Ben McNamara; 2.Alex Mansueto, 4.David Vrankovic, 5.Chris Tadrosse, 8.Alexander Canak (10.Jordan Simpson 80?), 9.Robbie Younis (15.Luka Dukic 88?), 13.Nikola Stanojevic, 16.Adrian Ucchino, 19.Harris Gaitatzis, 21.Ken Chun, 23.Mitchell Long (17.Jordan Crighton 69?).
Substitutes Not Used: 11.Ben Spuce, 20.Andrew Bazi
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Robbie Younis (BWE)
2 – David Vrankovic (BWE)
1 – Ben McNamara (BWE)
-By Joe Russo
