Stallions and Olympic share the spoils
Marconi Stallions and Sydney Olympic were left ruing several missed opportunities in a scoreless draw at Marconi Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The two former National Soccer League sides fought hard in the middle of the park but could not unlock each other’s defence.
Marconi started the match on fire creating two chances in as many minutes. First, former A-League player Evan Berger was put through on goal with Paul Henderson coming off his goal line well to thwart the chance.
1’ minute later, striker Elsid Barkhousir – playing against his former side – got on the end of a through ball before volleying straight to the chest of Henderson.
The chances woke Sydney Olympic up as they muscled up in the middle of the park but were unable to create any clear cut chances in the first 10’ minutes.
The Stallions had their best chance in the first-half to open the scoring on 21’ minutes when Barkhousir received the ball out wide on the right before cutting back onto his left and sending a deep cross to a waiting Tadgh Purcell whose header forced Henderson into a great save down to his left.
Renato Franco Ramirez had Olympic’s first sight of goal in the 24’ minute, getting on the end of a William Angel cross before softly hitting the ball towards a waiting James Chronopoulos.
Barkhousir continued to trouble the Blues defence and in the 31’ minute controlled the ball before shooting just wide of the mark.
The away side finally created its first clear chance in the 41’ minute when Amaury Gauthier switched the play, sending a floating through ball for Troy Danaskos who took a touch before his shot was saved by the feet of Chronopoulos keeping the scores level going into the break.
The Stallions were forced into a change 2’ minutes into the second-half when Berger was replaced by Shane Webb. The veteran almost made an immediate impact for his side, sending in a great cross which was eventually headed clear by Petar Markovic.
Marton Vass showed strength in the middle of the park in the 49’ minute, winning the ball and sending Angel down the left hand touchline only for the winger to miss kick his cross with the ball floating over for a goal kick.
The Blues started to control the game well, pinning the Stallions back in their own half. The added possession created two chances within minutes of each other, forcing the Stallions to block a shot and Chronopoulos into a save in the 55’ minute.
The home side were also not giving up and in the 60’ minute Webb again sent a lovely cross into the Olympic box with Purcell getting up well but heading the ball wide.
1’ minute later, Stallions captain Nahuel Arrarte tried to open the game though his long-range strike went well over the crossbar.
The up-and-down game continued to excite the fans with Sydney Olympic next to get a shot on goal. After Angel received the ball in the box the winger turned to his right before a weak shot was easily saved by Chronopoulos.
Purcell thought he had given his side the lead on 70’ minutes, rising well only for his header to be cleared off the line by Danaskos.
4’ minutes later, Purcell ran at his defender before squaring the ball to Sean O’Connell, whose powerful shot was again saved by a diving Henderson.
As the game entered the final 10’ minutes both sides continued to fight hard eager to take the three points.
Milorad Simonovic had the home fans off their seats in the 85’ minute, finding space inside the box only to see his shot-turned-cross missed by two Marconi attackers.
Elrich had the Stallions following his shadow with 3’ minutes remaining, beating three players down the middle before laying off to Kingsley Williams whose curling shot went well over the bar.
At the other end, substitute Kojiro Hori took the ball to the right flank before his cross found a free Webb who could only send his volley wide ending the game 0-0.
Following the match, Marconi Stallions head coach Jean Paul De Marigny said his side were unlucky not to score:
“I think both teams wanted to play a passing game and at times both forced it a little bit,’’ De Marigny said.
“It was really competitive for both sides but for us we couldn’t take our chances. Despite that the work ethic was very good.
“The most important thing was that we didn’t give anything away after last week so we did that well and created a few chances but unfortunately it didn’t work out for us.’’
In the away dressing room, Sydney Olympic coach Grant Lee said:
“I thought it was a really good contest in terms of the condition of the pitch thanks to the weather we have had recently,’’ he said.
“Maybe I am being a little bit biased but I thought we had a little bit more of the play and more opportunities, but overall we did very well.
“We’ve got a very skinny squad but they are getting better.
“Today was probably one of the harder days because of the conditions and the mental challenge.’’
Match Stats
Marconi Stallions 0
Sydney Olympic 0
Sunday 30th of June, 2013
Marconi Stadium, Bossley Park
Referee: Stephen Lucas
Assistant Referees: Valerio Bertuccioli and Scott Edeling
Fourth Official: Lachlan Keevers
Marconi Stallions: 22.James Chronopoulos; 2.Mitchell Thompson, 4.Umut Tokdogan, 7.Sean O’Connell, 10.Milorad Simonovic, 15.Wade Oostendorp (8.Jared Lum 16’), 17.Tadgh Purcell, 19.Damien Travis, 14.Evan Berger (6.Shane Webb 47’), 26.Nahuel Arrarte (C), 45.Elsid Barkhousir (25.Kojiro Hori 64’)
Substitutes Not Used: 25.Kojiro Hori, 23.Chris Nunes
Yellow Cards: Damien Travis 75’
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 1.Paul Henderson (C); 6.Marton Vass (21.James Demetriou 77’), 8.Kingsley Williams, 10.Renato Franco Ramirez, 11.William Angel (5.Bradley Treloar 80’), 12.Troy Danaskos, 14.Petar Markovic, 15.Zak Elrich, 22.Amaury Gauthier (29.Brayden Sorge 85’), 24.Brendan Hooper, 46.Michael Cindric
Substitutes Not Used: 23.Luke Kairies (GK)
Yellow Cards: Zak Elrich 28’, Troy Danaskos 63’
Red Cards: Nil
-By Chris Georges
