Stallions outshine Sydney United 58
Marconi Stallions played host to Sydney United 58 FC in the traditional West Sydney derby, and the Stallions took the full three-points with a very impressive 3-0 win.
In the 3’ minute James Chronopoulos needed to be down sharply to save at the feet of United 58 striker Yuichi Yamuchi, and again, less than 60’’ seconds later as Mitchell Speer was sent through as the visitors started with the greater impetus against their fancied hosts.
In Marconi’s first real attack of substance in the 7’ minute Sean O’Connell made Liam Reddy work hard at the near post to push the ball away for a corner that was poorly taken and resulted in an easy clearance for the United 58 defence.
Yamauchi sent a spectacular effort high and wide in the 13’ minute that, had it been on target, would have been covered by Chronopoulos.
With a congested midfield it was United 58 who were carving out the better opportunities and the Yamuchi effort was quickly followed by Glen Trifiro sending a similar shot the same way with the neighbours certainly in the ascendency.
In the 19’ minute the Reds again broke down the right but the pull back from Danial Barac was too acute and his teammates over-ran the ball which eventually found its way to Robert Mileski whose scuffed effort presented no problems to the Stallions goalkeeper.
With 22’ minutes on the clock it was the turn of Calum O’Connell to break down the left and centre for Barac who took the shot on the turn first-time that Chronopoulos managed to hold before the Stallions hit on the counter for Tadgh Purcell to warm the hands of Sydney United captain and ‘keeper Liam Reddy.
Indeed, although Marconi were pushed into sitting deep they had their moments on the break and, but for a timely intervention, Milorad Simonovic would have found Purcell with a cross the Stallions make-shift striker could have side-footed home with ease past the hapless Reddy who, for once, was left without the potent screen of defence in front of him.
Following a goalmouth scramble from a corner, however, it was the home side who hit the front when Sean O’Connell was able to lash the ball home from close range.
The strike looked to have rattled the visitors when Reddy spilt a long range effort from Jared Lum 2’ minutes later but no Stallions striker was following up.
Reddy was not so lucky 60’’ seconds later when Simonovic tried his luck from distance and perfectly found the bottom corner of the net to extend Marconi’s lead with a goal of pure quality.
Marconi felt they had a third, and a second for O’Connell, before the break in the 42’ minute that was ruled offside after match official Kris Griffith-Jones, one of the best in the league, consulted with his assistant on the far side to rule out what would most likely have been an unassailable lead going in to half-time.
Having soaked up the pressure it was classical counterattacking football that had presented the home side with a couple of chances they were not giving away. For the first 30’ minutes it had looked all United 58 until the strike from O’Connell that surely sparked the Stallions into action.
Marconi started the brighter on the resumption and a cut back into the box had Reddy scrambling to gather as the home team looked to put the final nail in the coffin and put the result to bed.
The Stallions butchered a chance in the 49’ minute when Simonovic stole the ball in midfield and slipped a pass to Purcell who in turn attempted to play in Evan Berger, but the pass was too strong and the opportunity disappeared, much to the relief of the away support.
It was followed closely by Mitchell Thompson attempting a left-footed shot on the angle that again had the visiting shot-stopper down sharply to smother with Marconi now springing forward at will as United 58 pushed forward in search of a goal but leaving themselves open to the counter.
Chris Triantis was presented with a chance to reduce the deficit in the 57’ minute but his sweetly struck shot was saved acrobatically by Chronopoulos that was well held with United strikers pressing forward in numbers inside the box.
Marconi slowly but surely squeezed but were debatably pressed back as the game temporarily became bogged down in midfield as they stifled the attacking options of their opposition.
The Stallions found a third when Tadgh Purcell this time stole the ball and played O’Connell in down the right and his deflected cross wrong-footed Reddy as Purcell following in it looped up and found the back of the net off the midfielder’s body in the 78’ minute.
For all the endeavour of the Reds there was to be no consolation goal in the comprehensive dismantling of their game by Marconi even when Barac was clean through and chipped Chronopoulos but also cleared the bar.
A jubilant Stallions coach Jean Paul De Marigny admitted afterwards:
“What United 58 did really well today was their #10 (Chris Triantis) was playing between the lines and we were not adjusting to that too well and once we sorted that out, especially after about 15’ minutes, we didn’t look in too much danger because we had been under the pump until then.
“After that I thought we played really good ourselves and took the goals well with some good passages of play so I am really happy for the boys today.
“We had a spell during the year when we did well and then were on the wrong end of a couple of indifferent results so the confidence was probably a little bit down but after we opened the scoring it really sparked us into the game and we made a few changes for this one and it was good to see Evan Berger in the mix today.
“Tadgh (Purcell) I feel did well for us playing as the number 9 and Sean O’Connell too so we changed a few things on the attacking side of things and it worked for us.”
On the local derby aspect he added:
“Of course the local derby is always important for bragging rights and it makes it that little bit sweeter you know but at the end of the day it’s the three points that matter the most.
“I had some great times at United 58 and some not so good ones also and I feel some people let me down a little bit but all in all I enjoyed my time with the club and I feel we were very successful in making two Grand Finals and some players going on to make the A-League.
Mark Rudan was more philosophical at the final whistle when adding:
“We had the majority of play up until the goal and that seemed to lift them but that’s what happens you know and it is similar to last week when we created a few good opportunities to go ahead and in these big games, and especially derbies, the first goal is always important and I thought we played some really good stuff up until that goal.
“We probably need to learn how to be calmer particularly when we are in possession in the attacking half and stay a bit more composed as a lot of teams now against us are starting to put a lot of bodies behind the ball and Marconi today played on the counter extremely well.
“I took a gamble in the second-half when we were down a couple of goals and slipped an extra man into midfield so when we had the ball we could hit on the break and I was confident that if we were to go man on man we would be able to hold ourselves and create some chances.
“However, the final result for me isn’t always the most important aspect but the performance and I’ve said this all along but we were doing the right things and though the result still hurts the performance was right and when that occurs the results usually follow.”
Match Stats
Marconi Stallions 3 (Sean O’Connell 29’, Milorad Simonovic 34’, Tadhg Purcell 78’)
Sydney United 58 FC 0
Sunday 19th May, 2013
Marconi Stadium, Bossley Park
Referee: Kris Griffiths-Jones
Assistant Referees: Thomas Lee and Luke Burley
Marconi Stallions: 22.James Chronopoulos; 2.Mitchell Thompson, 4.Umut Tokdogan, 7.Sean O’Connell, 8.Jared Lum, 10.Milorad Simonovic (25.Kojiro Hori 82’), 14.Evan Berger (31.Jaushua Sotirio 58’), 15.Wade Oostendorp (3.Aii Haydar 62’), 17.Tadhg Purcell, 19.Damien Travis, 26.Nauel Arrarte (C)
Substitutes Not Used: 3.Ali Haydar, 12.Anthony Proia, 21.Stefan Giglio
Yellow Cards: Tokdogan 39’
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney United 58 FC: 29.Liam Reddy (C); 2.Mitchell Speer, 4.Nathan Sherlock, 5.Calum O’Connell, 6.Mitchel Stamatellis, 8.Yuichi Yamauchi (19.Mathew Bilic 84’), 9.Robert Mileski (23.Ante Tomic 62’), 10.Chris Triantis, 15.Anthony Tomelic (16.Stepjan Paric), 18.Glen Trifiro, 22.Daniel Barac
Substitutes Not Used: 12.Thomas Herveg, 41.Jordan Jennings
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Sean O’Connell (MS)
2 – Milorad Simonovic (MS)
1 – James Chronopoulos (MS)
-By Micky Brock
