Stallions win classic derby over Tigers

THE ROUND 13 encounter between Marconi Stallions and APIA-Leichhardt Tigers ended in a tight 1-0 win to Marconi at home to their historical rivals.

The game known affectionately as the ‘Italian Derby’ is always hard fought and tightly contested, but the Tigers would be ruing the one that really got away. While Marconi played a good structured game, the better of the guilt-edged chances belonged to the Tigers.

The Stallions took the lead late in the game and were never really troubled after the goal by Marco Sama.

In the second minute Daniel Fogarty received a cross from the left from Blake Powell but somehow, with a totally open goal, he pushed the ball over the crossbar. It was definitely harder to miss than to score from such a golden position and APIA’s coach Billy McColl must have been wondering how his side could squander such opportunities game after game.

Marconi’s opening chance arrived in the 12’ minute when Mitchell Thompson delightfully found Shu Sasaki who went chasing the ball and took it right up to goalkeeper Andrew Bazi, but really he should have done better when the goalkeeper came out rather than shoot against his feet.

In the 30’ minute Joey Gibbs tried an overhead kick against his former club but James Chronopoulos was ready and waiting in goals to grab the chance. A minute later, APIA squandered another chance when Blake Powell’s diagonal shot took a slight deflection and finished just wide of the intended target.

In the 41’ minute Marconi replied through Jared Lum who, with powerful shot from outside the box, brought out the best in Andrew Bazi as he was forced to turn the ball away for a corner.

Just before half time Fogarty charged through the defence of the Stallions and from close range found Chronopoulos once again ready to grab the ball from his feet.

The first half ended with a flurry of chances for both sides but neither of them was really capable of converting them into goals as they entered the sheds scoreless.

In the second half there was more the same: a tightly contested and controlled game until the 62’ minute when Powell received the ball on the edge of the box, drifted towards goal and with only Chronopoulos to beat, inexcusably fired wide. The former Sydney FC player should really have put the Tigers ahead.

In the 72’ minute a long, looping cross from the left reached Christopher Nunes who hit his volley first time but across the face of goal.

In the 75’ minute Marconi Stallions took the lead when Marco Sama received the ball on the edge of the box and somehow threaded it into the bottom left hand corner of the net. Sama, who had been on the field only a matter of minutes, charged towards the coach’s box to celebrate wildly with his teammates.

There was to be not much else to write home about in this game except for a late attempt by Joey Gibbs that didn’t really trouble Chronopoulos right at the death.

After the game Paul Carter, in his only second game in charge of Marconi, was delighted to have secured all three points and responded accordingly when asked the obvious question.

“Yes, of course, it was a special match between two rivals for a long time,” he said.

“I am glad to have secured the competition points but I am sure that they are disappointed with their missed opportunities.”

However, Carter a former Marconi player, was still very proud of his side’s achievement on the night and delighted to be back at his club where he played for many seasons.

“I am still very proud of how we played and I only worry about what we have done. I believe that we ground out the result and it’s my club and, of course, I am very honoured to be coaching here and giving it 100%."

Billy McColl, APIA Leichhardt’s coach, was still positive despite the set-back of such a loss.

“We never took our chances and we created so many that I lost count,” he said.

“They [Marconi] had one shot in the second half and put it away and it’s not about quantity but quality. They scored and we didn’t, even though we gave 100%.

“My only criticism is that we missed easy chances, some of which my granny could have scored.

“We must keep being positive with our attitude and commitment and keep doing what we are doing at training and eventually we’ll thrash somebody,” he said.

Match Stats
Marconi Stallions 1 (Marco Sama 75’)           
APIA Leichhardt Tigers 0
Saturday 7th June, 2014
Marconi Stadium, Bossley Park
Referee: Adrian Arndt
Assistant Referees: Sarah Ho and Danny Horstead
Fourth Official: Adam Vainauskas
Marconi Stallions: 22.James Chronopoulos (C); 2.Mitchell Thompson, 3.Ali Haydar, 5.Brenton Rhodes, 6.Jared Lum (4.Trent Barton 51’), 7.Sean O’Connell, 10.Milorad Simonovic, 14.Matthew Thompson (21.Zakeriya El-Rich 85’), 18.Jake McGing, 20.Shu Sasaki (9.Marco Sama 72’), 23.Christopher Nunes
Substitutes not used: 1.Nathan Campbell, 15.Tomislav Mijic
Yellow Cards: Matthew Thompson 63’
Red Cards: Nil
APIA-Leichhardt Tigers: 1.Andrew Bazi; 4.Bradley Bartels, 5.Michael West (C),  7.Stephen Kayes, 8.Bradley McDonald, 9.Blake Powell, 10.Franco Parisi, 11.Daniel Fogarty (16.Jordan Simpson 82’), 13.David D’Apuzzo, 14.Paul Galimi, 19.Joey Gibbs
Substitutes not used: 40.Stefan Giglio, 2.Travis Oughtred, 3.Jamie Lobb, 20.Ali Nasreddine
Yellow Cards: Franco Parisi 36’, Paul Galimi 76’
Red Cards: Nil
– By Joe Russo, National Premier Leagues NSW Mens 1 Reporter, at Marconi Stadium