Suns and Stallions settle for point

Rockdale City Suns FC played out a 1-1 draw with Marconi Stallions FC at the Ilinden Sports Centre in the closing match of round six on Easter Monday.

There was little to separate the two teams in the first half, an evenly clashed match with very few chances on goal.

It took until just past the half hour mark for there to be a breakthrough and it came with the first real opportunity of the match.

32’ minutes were on the clock when Marconi’s rising youngster Jake McGing, running down the right wing, beat his man before crossing to an unmarked Marco Sama in the penalty box.

It appeared to take an eternity, but the Marconi number 9 remained composed before slotting the ball past Rockdale ‘keeper Tomislav Arcaba.

The goal brought to a halt a scrappy opening in which neither side was able to stamp its authority on proceedings.

Ten minutes after going behind, Rockdale City had claimed the equaliser.

This time, it was Rockdale’s number 9 who found the back of the net.

Ex-Marconi striker and Irishman Tadhg Purcell was a full 25 metres out when his bullet of a shot saw Marconi keeper James Chronopoulos, fingertip the ball onto the cross bar before it ended up in the back of the net.

It was a fierce strike and it meant that the scores were level heading into the half time interval.

It was a different scenario in the second half, with Rockdale controlling the midfield and creating a series of chances.

In the 61’ minute, Suns’ in form player Sean Symons should have put the home team in front with a point blank shot, only to hit it straight at Chronopoulos.

This was followed in the 77’ minute when Purcell looked to have beaten the keeper, only to see the ball stop short of the line. It was a narrow miss and one that would prove costly, although a point was still taken.

Rockdale continued to pile on the pressure, which saw them almost rewarded in the 91′ minute.

A great run by the energetic Purcell ended with him crossing the ball from outside the box, finding the in-form Nikola Taneski, but he could only shoot wide of the far post, as Marconi breathed a sigh of relief.

Taneski felt that his side had played well enough to take all three points, but that they let themselves down in front of goal.

"The boys were a bit disappointed with the result, I think we deserved more, but our play in the final third let us down," Taneski said.

"It definitely wasn’t a bad performance. We were a bit disappointed with the result, we pushed on, but the final ball was missing.

"We still have a lot of things we need to work and improve on, we need to kill matches better and when the chance comes up, we need to put the game away."

Match Stats

Rockdale City Suns FC 1 (Tadhg Purcell 42’)

Marconi Stallions FC 1 (Marco Sama 32’)

Monday 21 April, 2014

Ilinden Sports Centre

Referee: Kurt Ams

Assistant Referees: Kearney Robinson and James Tesso

Fourth Official: S.Green

Rockdale City Suns FC: 1.Tomislav Arcaba; 13.Ben Comish (16.Daniel Barac), 12.Idriss El Hafiane, 3.Steven Hesketh, 8.Paul Kohler, 6.Takuya Murayama, 23.Askin Oygur (C), 9.Tadhg Purcell (18.Woo Seung), 5.Paul Reid, 4.Sean Symons (19.Tony Lo), 11.Nikola Taneski

Substitutes Not Used: 22.David Bradasevic (GK), 25.Nicholas Petrillo

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

Marconi Stallions FC: 22.James Chronopoulos (C); 21.Zakeriya El-Rich, 6.Jared Lum, 18.Jake Mcging (18.Shu Sasaki), 15.Tomislav Mijic, 7.Sean O’Connell, 9.Marco Sama (12.Harry Brown), 10.Milorad Simonovic (8.Lochlan Reus), 2.Mitchell Thompson, 11.Jakob Williams, 5.Brenton Rhodes

Substitutes Not Used: 16.Bright Appiah, 40.Aaron Liddell (GK)

Yellow Cards: Tomislav Mijic 30’, Brenton Rhodes 41’, Harry Brown 70’, Shu Sasaki 86’

Red Cards: Nil

Player Ratings:

3- Tadhg Purcell (Rockdale)

2- Paul Reid (Rockdale)

1- Shu Sasaki (Marconi)

– By Anneliese Scenna, National Premier Leagues NSW Mens 1 Reporter, at Ilinden Sports Centre