Sharks grab win at Marconi

An opportunistic Sutherland Sharks took full advantage of an error-strewn opening half from Marconi Stallions to come away from Marconi Stadium with a hard-fought 2-1 win on Sunday afternoon.
An early defensive error gifted the opener to Brad Boardman before Panni Nikas shrugged off a saved penalty to convert his second spot kick of the afternoon and give Sutherland a two goal advantage at the break.
Milorad Simonovic pulled a goal back for Marconi soon after the restart yet the hosts were unable to forge an equaliser as Sutherland held on to grind out the win.
Marconi appeared to have the advantage as they controlled the opening minutes with some positive attacking football yet were soon hit the self-destruct button with a blatant error in a routine defensive position.
The opener was handed to Sutherland on a plate when a miscommunication between Ibrahim Haydar and James Chronopoulos saw neither react to a weak back pass, handing Boardman the chance to steal possession behind Marconi’s motionless backline; the striker gladly accepted the gift before slotting the ball past the keeper to put his side in the lead.
The hosts looked to recover immediately as they set about continuing their structure attacks in search of an immediate equaliser.
Marconi soon breached Sutherland’s defence just before the quarter hour mark when Mitchell Thompson was allowed the time and space to get forward from the left side of defence and deliver a dangerous cross to Anthony Proia who was unfortunate to see his powerful header fly over the crossbar.
The hosts perhaps should have equalised minutes later when Nahuel Arrarte’s corner somehow snuck through a maze of players before finding its way to Damian Travis inside the 6-yard box; Travis seemed as surprised as anyone that the ball had found him which was most likely the cause of his lack of composure as he fired the ball well over the crossbar from point blank to let the visitors off the hook.
Sutherland looked to have punished Marconi for the miss when they earned the chance to double their advantage from the spot kick; Nick Stavroulakis threaded an inch perfect pass into the box from the left flank that saw Boardman beat Chronopoulos to the ball before having his legs caught by the onrushing custodian.
Chronopoulos saw the yellow card for the foul before dusting himself off to turn from villain to hero, diving to his left to block Nikas’ penalty and keep his side in the hunt.
The momentary inspiration didn’t last long as Travis was deceived by Boardman’s smart turn in the box minutes later, clipping the striker’s ankles and handing Nikas another chance to get his name on the scoresheet with another spot kick.
The nomadic midfielder held his nerve, this time confidently firing the ball to the keeper’s right and into the back of the net to give his side some breathing space.
Sutherland appeared to have seen attack as the best form of defence as they continued to throw players forward in search of a third with Nikas seeing his long range effort comfortably saved before delivering smartly worked short corner to Boardman’s head minutes later; the striker came within inches of his second as his flicked header glanced off the far post and behind for a goal kick.
The visitors looked to have caught Marconi on the counter soon after only for Haydar to hold his ground and block Stavroulakis’ route to goal with a strong last man challenge.
Marconi pressed ahead in search of a goal to get themselves back into the match yet Sutherland kept them at bay as Stavroulakis blocked Sean O’Connell’s strike before Haydar saw his powerful shot from the edge of the box well held by Nathan Denham.
Marconi’s afternoon almost went from bad to worse with the last action of the half as Travis failed to feed the ball back to Chronopoulos with a weak attempted header; Nathan Elasi was onto the error in a flash yet couldn’t get his lobbed finish on target under the pressure of the onrushing keeper.
Jean Paul DeMarigny had his work cut out for him going into the break as his side had it all to do in the second-half. His half-time team talk seemed to have worked a treat as his side looked to have regained their confidence upon their return from the sheds.
From the restart Marconi began to move the ball around with greater intent as they hunted for openings in Sutherland’s stubborn backline.
The hosts were soon rewarded for their efforts as they pulled a goal back through Simonovic’s calm finish.
Arrarte and Jared Lum combined well in the lead up before the latter fed the ball to Simonovic in the box; the attacker kept his cool to stroke the ball past Denham and breathe new life into his side.
The goal swung the momentum in Marconi’s favour and Simonovic almost forced an equaliser when he used to speed of the ball to dummy and turn past Perry Moustakas before bursting into the box; fortunately for the visitors Nick Littler got back in time to block Simonovic’s finish at the expense of a corner.
Robbie Stanton looked to turn things back in Sutherland’s favour when he withdrew the tiring Boardman for the fresh legs of Chris Naumoff on the hour mark; the move almost paid immediate rewards when Naumoff outmuscled Umut Tokdogan to steal possession in attack and cross for Elasi who let a promising chance slip when he got the ball stuck under his feet, allowing Marconi to recover and clear.
Marconi then came agonisingly close to equalising when Denham’s punched clearance of Thompson’s corner fell to Haydar on the penalty spot; the strong defender couldn’t get his finish on target as he flashed his snap volley wide of goal.
Sutherland looked to hold their lead and attack only on the counter in an attempt to keep Marconi at bay as the hosts began to throw greater numbers forward in their hunt for a levelling goal.
They came close to finding one late on when Simonovic fired a powerful ball across the 6-yard box yet substitute Jaushua Sotirio, who looked lively after coming off the bench for Proia, couldn’t get a toe to the cross which flashed harmlessly wide.
As Marconi became more desperate for a goal Sutherland responding by asserting control as they smartly defended in numbers while slowing up play in attack to grind out the closing minutes and hold on for the three points.
Marconi coach Jean Paul DeMarigny was disappointed by his side’s decision making in the first half which ultimately cost his side the match:
“I think individually we sort of self-destructed in some of our decision making,” said De Marigny.
“You can’t give teams like that two or three goals to start with, there were two pens and we really gave them the first goal.
“Jimmy (Chronopoulos) did well to keep us in the game but it was disappointing to lose it that way.”
After seeing his side gift their opponent’s their two goals De Marigny felt his side were still up to the challenge and on the run of play perhaps deserved more reward from their second half:
“To be honest I thought there was only really one team in it,” said De Marigny.
“In particular in the second-half but in the first half we did ok.
“When you self-destruct like that it makes it difficult and you give the opponent belief but in the second half there was only one team in it.”
Sutherland coach Robbie Stanton felt luck had nothing to do with his side’s win as they fought hard for their win and capitalised on the chances that fell to them:
“I didn’t think we were lucky,” said Stanton.
“We were definitely the dominating team in the first half although we didn’t start the first five well.
“Once we got the ball rolling and we took our opportunities that Boardo (Boardman) was presented which was just through persistency, then got a couple of penalties which were both penalties from how I saw them, then a couple of one of ones we missed – if Elasi scored that goal we’d almost close it out as it could have been the final nail.
“At 2-0 if you don’t take your chances you let them back in.
“I didn’t expect any different from what we got from Marconi after half time and didn’t expect to be in any different situation as we still had to fight for it.
“I did even expect that we might have had to have got another goal to win but in the end we were quite happy to survive with two.
“It’s what you’ve got to expect from good teams – good teams don’t allow you to do that in two halves – so in the end we ground it out and I stuck with the players that were out there.”
Stanton hailed the hard-fought win as an important one for their campaign as they now have themselves firmly placed in a final position:
“For me it was a good defining moment for us for the rest of this season.
“That’s five wins out of eight away so we’ve picked up some good points.
“Now we have intentions to do well this team as a lot of teams do.
“I think now we’re getting into the grind of it and we’re playing some good football at the same time.”
Match Stats
Marconi Stallions 1 (Milorad Simonovic 55’)
Sutherland Sharks 2 (Brad Boardman 8’, Pani Nikas 22’ pen)
Sunday May 5th, 2013
Marconi Stadium, Bossley Park
Referee: James Lewis
Assistant Referees: Thomas Lee and Nathan Wotton
Fourth Official: Nathan Roberts
Marconi Stallions: 22.James Chronopoulos; 2.Mitchell Thompson, 3.Ali Haydar, 4.Umut Tokdogan, 7.Sean O’Connell (23.Chris Nunes 76’), 8.Jared Lum, 10.Milorad Simonovic, 12.Anthony Proia (31.Jaushua Sotirio 79’), 17.Tadhg Purcell, 19.Damian Travis (18.Jake McGing 79’), 26.Nahuel Arrarte
Substitutes Not Used: 15.Wade Oostendorp, 21.Stefan Giglio
Yellow Cards: James Chronopoulos 19’, Mitchell Thompson 44’, Jaushua Sotirio 83’
Red Cards: Nil
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 2.Nick Littler, 6.Matthew Gordon, 7.Nathan Elasi, 8.Nicholas Olsen, 9.Brad Boardman (19.Chris Naumoff 60’), 13.Reo Morinaga, 14.Nick Stavroulakis, 15.Perry Moustakas, 23.Pani Nikas, 33.Nik Tsattalios
Substitutes Not Used: 3.Michael Stuart, 4.James McKenzie, 17.Klim Gjorseski, 22.Andrew Depta
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Nick Stavroulakis (SS)
2 – Jared Lum (MS)
1 – Panni Nikas (SS)
-By Michael Shoolman