Barkhousir brilliance secures Stallions win over Suns
Elsid Barkhousir netted his first goal in a Marconi Stallions jersey in a dramatic late show at Marconi Stadium on Sunday afternoon to secure the Stallions all three-points following the 1-0 win over Rockdale City Suns.
The Stallions, living a very positive moment of form, carved out the better opportunities on the afternoon, though the Suns were always in the match with some dangerous counterattacks over the 90’ minutes.
In the end, the persistence of the new Marconi signing, and the belief oozed from the sideline from coach Jean-Paul De Marigny, proved the difference as Barkhousir capitalised on Tadgh Purcell’s persistence in injury-time to secure the win.
The visitors started lively with Takuya Murayama releasing Brendan Gan down the right-flank inside the first 60’’ seconds before the former A-League star’s cross into the penalty-area was cleared by the Stallions defence.
The Stallions looked to gain the ascendency in the early exchanges with some positive possession in the front third. The side carved out an opening on 7’ minutes when Milorad Simonovic, always the hard worker with a fabulous eye, and right peg to create, sent Sean O’Connell clear down the right. The attacking midfielder showed his pace and poise on the ball before his centre was cleared behind for a corner.
The high energy start continued at the other end as Gan once more got into some space down the right. The Suns’ number 7 was quick, and full of tricks, before his attempt to pick out Alec Urosevski was thwarted by the Stallions defenders.
The Stallions produced the first real chance for an opening on 23’ minutes, once more passing via the feet of Simonovic. A scramble ensued inside the Suns penalty-area as the vocal Diego Barcena instructed his players to clear the ball away.
At the other end, Rockdale City Suns should have taken the lead. Seiya Kawamura turned his marker down the left before playing a majestic through ball in behind the defence and into the path of Richard Cardozo who, from point-blank range, saw his first-time effort superbly parried by James Chronopoulos.
Marconi too were guilty of passing up a chance to open the scoring on 36’ minutes as Barkhousir scuffed an opening. Following the tremendous work ethic of O’Connell down the right, the low-driven cross into the path of the striker took a slight bobble, and from point-blank range, Barkhousir failed to get any real sting behind the ball as goalkeeper Barcena was super quick off his line to limit any danger.
The Suns moved swiftly down the other end to force Chronopoulos into a big save. Anthony Perri made an opening for himself on the edge of the penalty-area before drilling an effort destined for the bottom corner – Chronopoulos at his best to parry.
Marconi had the final look-in on goal for the half as Nahuel Arrarte started another counterattack. O’Connell was the beneficiary of a neat square ball on the edge of the penalty-area though, from a decentralised position, could only blast his effort wide of the mark.
Following the interval, Elsid Barkhousir had an acrobatic effort inside the penalty-area easily parried by Barcena, the striker putting his body on the line to create an opening out of almost nothing.
Rockdale’s best efforts in the early exchanges of the second period arrived via the feet of Paul Reid – the experienced campaigner moving the ball around the park with complete precision.
Reid was allowed to press a little further forward from the 57’ minute with youngster Roberto Speranza thrown into the mix, replacing Anthony Perri. The younger of the Speranza brothers was eager to get involved early, and he showed his big engine with a lot of energy brought to the field.
On the hour, the Suns had another look-in on goal when Gan picked up a loose ball on the edge of the penalty-area. With no time to take a touch, Gan blasted a shot on target – denied only by a deflection that took the ball wide for a corner.
Marconi picked up the tempo with Christopher Nunes getting more involved on the left. The second-half substitute – who replaced Evan Berger at the break – won his side a free-kick on 67’ minutes after going to ground under the challenge of Oygur.
The result saw Mitchell Thompson try his luck. The left-sided wingback cleverly curled his effort over the wall, though only just failed to hit the target.
Suns coach Branko Culina replaced his top marksman Richard Cardozo midway through the half. The Suns number 10 – not at his usual best – seemed to be struggling with a niggling thigh strain, allowing new signing Nikola Taneski to play alongside Urosevski.
On 73’ minutes, Barkhousir again tried his luck for the Stallions with an acrobatic attempt. The enigmatic striker lined up his attempt to perfection though saw his effort blocked by some desperate defending at the back for the visitors.
Rockdale looked to slow the home side’s possessional dominance with a counter down the left. A fine ball into the penalty-area picked out Taneski who failed to test Chronopoulos with his glancing header that didn’t carry a lot of power.
Gan followed up again on 80’ minutes with a left-foot snapshot from an acute angle. A Rockdale City free-kick, almost comically, struck the head of referee Mr. Kurt Ams before falling into the path of Gan who saw his powerful effort well held by Chronopoulos.
In a tense finish to the encounter, where both sides did get numbers forward in search of a goal, the Stallions went close to finding a goal.
Second-half substitute Kojiro Hori picked up a loose ball outside the penalty-area before blasting a wild left-foot drive on goal in the 89’ minute. The effort appeared to be heading wide as Nunes got his head to the ball, failing to get complete control on his attempt as the ball sailed over the crossbar.
The elusive goal did arrive in the 2’ minute of injury-time however, and it arrived with the cheers of the Stallions’ supporters.
Barkhousir, who has been phenomenal in his first showings for his new side, netted his first goal as a Marconi player. Tadgh Purcell chased down a ball that almost seemed a lost cause, playing a square ball into the path of Barkhousir who dummied his first attempt before side-footing into the back of the net between some lunging Suns’ bodies attempt to cancel out the attempt.
At the referee’s final whistle, Stallions coach Jean-Paul De Marigny was ecstatic:
“Very happy with the result today, no doubt about that,” exclaimed De Marigny.
“To be honest the past five weeks have been great, there is a real belief amongst the group, the boys have all started playing with some fabulous structure and organisation.
“The professionalism is tremendous and overall we are playing good football which is fantastic.
“I am happy that we have the playing group together with the players we have. I mean, we probably gave the competition a two to four week head start with our playing roster not complete, though things are coming together.
“I am really looking forward to the final eight rounds of the competition,” De Marigny ended.
Branko Culina was less than impressed with the showing of the Suns today:
“A very poor performance today, that is it,” commented a dejected Culina.
“The loss last weekend has perhaps had some effect, it is quite possible. The confidence we had up until a few weeks ago is not quite there – it was a poor performance.
“After today we need to pick up the pieces and get back to basics,” concluded the Suns coach.
Match Stats
Marconi Stallions 1 (Elsid Barkhousir 90’+2’)
Rockdale City Suns 0
Sunday 16th of June, 2013
Marconi Stadium
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: James Tesoriero and Lance Greenshields
Fourth Official: Kelly Jones
Marconi Stallions: 20.James Chronopoulos; 2.Mitchell Thompson, 3.Ali Haydar, 7.Sean O’Connell, 10.Milorad Simonovic (25.Kojiro Hori 68’), 14.Evan Berger (23.Christopher Nunes 46’), 15.Wade Oostendorp (4.Umut Tokdogan 59’), 17.Tadgh Purcell, 19.Damien Travis, 26.Nahuel Arrarte (C), 45.Elsid Barkhousir
Substitutes Not Used: 21.Stefan Giglio; 8.Jared Lum
Yellow Cards: Nahuel Arrarte 32’, Kojiro Hori 79’
Red Cards: Nil
Rockdale City Suns: 1.Diego Barcena; 5.Paul Reid, 6.Takuya Murayama, 7.Brendan Gan, 8.Paul Kohler, 9.Alec Urosevski, 10.Richard Cardozo (2.Tom Gollins 69’), 13.Sam Munro, 16.Anthony Perri (20.Roberto Speranza 57’), 18.Seiya Kawamura (14.Nikola Taneski 57’), 23.Askin Oygur (C)
Substitutes Not Used: 24.Aaron Liddell; 15.Max Burgess
Yellow Cards: Alec Urosevski 27’, Sam Munro 63’, Askin Oygur 66’
Red Cards: Nil
-By Joseph Carlucci
