Stallions keep in touch with top-five after Manly win
Marconi kept within touching distance of the top-five in the National Premier Leagues Mens 1 competition following a 2-0 win against Manly United FC on Sunday at Cromer Park.
A thumping strike from Nahuel Arrarte gave the Stallions the lead in the first-half in the round 13 clash before Sean O’Connell ensured three points on the road with an injury time strike from outside the box.
The away side dominated proceedings early on and should have taken the lead in the 7’ minute.
Arrarte played in O’Connell but the winger produced a tame effort which Dylan Mitchell comfortably dealt with.
5’ minutes later Tadhg Purcell went even closer, only to see Mitchell again up to the task.
Midway through the first-half a sweeping move from Marconi saw Elsid Barkhousir feed Purcell but he snatched at the chance when he should have scored.
Moments later it was Barkhousir who was guilty of missing a chance, with that man Mitchell alert to the danger.
On 33’ minutes the Stallions deservedly took the lead. Following a David Cain foul, Marconi took a quick free kick and the ball eventually fell into the path of Arrarte, who smashed home from the edge of the box.
Seconds before half-time Cain almost made amends. Some good interplay from Brendan Cholakian and Jimmy Oates down the left resulted in a ball being whipped to the near post.
Cain timed his run well but hit his effort on the half volley over the bar.
10’ minutes after oranges Scott Balderson had the chance to square proceedings.
He beat the offside trap and dribbled the ball wide of James Chronopoulos but a poor touch saw the ball drift over the sideline.
On the hour mark Manly’s Matt Sim outpaced Ali Haydar down the left flank but elected to shoot from a narrow angle from the byline when he had teammates lining up to tap home at the penalty spot.
Over the next 20’ minutes referee Stephen Lucas let everyone know who was in charge when he brandished a series of yellow cards.
It interrupted the flow of the game, with a number of passionate home supporters in the Lucas Neill Stand voicing their displeasure at a number of his decisions.
Marconi finally secured the result at the death. O’Connell, who worked hard all afternoon, was rewarded when his hopeful shot from 20-yards hit the post then hit the back of a diving Mitchell before rolling into the back of the net.
Stallions coach Jean Paul De Marigny felt the better team won:
“The first-half we dominated them,’’ he said.
“Manly have one way of playing and that is long balls.
“It got a bit scrappy towards the end, but we were always comfortable and I am happy with what we dished up.”
His opposite Craig Midgley couldn’t fault the effort of his team:
“In the final third we are lacking a bit of finesse,’’ he said.
“We more than matched them in the second-half but made wrong decisions at crucial times.”
Match Stats
Manly United FC 0
Marconi Stallions 2 (Nahuel Arrarte 33’, Sean O’Connell 90’)
Sunday 9th of June, 2013
Cromer Park
Referee: Stephen Lucas
Assistant Referees: Kearney Robinson and David Christie
Fourth Official: Brett Lorimer
Manly United FC: 1.Dylan Mitchell; 7.Scott Balderson, (22.Grant Brown 62’) 14.David Cain, 12.Brendan Cholakian, 2.Leigh Egger, 6.Danny Grant, (25.Dom Ferguson 73’) 10.Colin Iley, (30.Jack Green 79’) 5.Josh Lawson, 15.Jimmy Oates, 11.Matt Sim, 16.Josh Ward
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Tonu Liiband, 3.Roberto Hamad
Yellow Cards: Lawson 31’, Egger 61’, Cain 74’
Red Cards: Nil
Marconi Stallions: 20.James Chronopoulos; 2.Mitchell Thompson, 3.Ali Haydar, 7.Sean O’Connell, 10.Milorad Simonovic, (25.Kojiro Hori 51’) 14.Evan Berger, (23.Chris Nunes 78’) 15.Wade Oostendorp, 17.Tadgh Purcell, 19.Damian Travis, (8.Jared Lum 66’) 26.Nahuel Arrarte, 45.Elsid Barkhousir
Substitutes Not Used: 4.Umut Tokdogan, 21.Stefan Giglio
Yellow Cards: Oostendorp 59’, Travis 65’, Arrarte 88’
Red Cards: Nil
-By Andrew Prentice
