Marconi get away with narrow win at home

A minute silence was observed for the recently deceased Ian Gray who passed away aged just 46. Gray?s name will be forever linked to Marconi as the former captain holds a special place in the annals of the club.
Gray, a distinguished former Socceroo defender, began his professional playing career at A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt Tigers before signing for Marconi.
Marconi?s win tonight in a small way was also a tribute to Gray. The game never really had the crowd on the edge of their seats, but at least from the Stallions? point of view a win is still a win.
The first-half of this encounter was certainly nothing to write home about until Aleksander Canak beautifully slotted the ball into the back of the net just a minute before the interval.
A long free-kick from Umut Tokdogan made its way to Brenton Rhodes who accurately headed the ball back to Canak and the gangly forward threaded the ball through a myriad of legs to beat Hamish McLean between the sticks.
The opening chance of the half fell to Marconi in the 18? minute when a lovely cross reached Nathan Jagelman in the box who stepped past one defender and fired his shot against the post.
The Berries replied a few minutes later when Ryan Jones received a magnificent ball from the right and forced Chronopoulos into a good save from his powerful attempt on goal.
At the 26? minute mark Kosta Lagoudakis thought that he would try his luck with a long-range effort that wasn?t too far off the intended target and, just before Canak?s goal, the Berries could have taken the lead had Jack Sobczyk managed to steer his header a fraction lower from a free-kick instead of just over the crossbar.
The second-half certainly wasn?t one for the football purists either and in fact both sides were arguably rusty from a rather lengthy off season.
John Calleja tried to liven up the game with a double substitution in the 61? minute and his counterpart Lee Sterrey followed two minutes later by bringing on Daniel Ott for Erick Anabalon.
It could have been a masterstroke by Sterrey because Ott in the 69? minute weaved his way past two defenders and fired his shot against the outside netting in what was arguably one of the better chances in the second stanza of play.
John Tsironis, part of the earlier double substitution for the Berries, meanwhile at the other end of the park was on the end a beautiful cross from the left, but his glancing header was well saved by James Chronopoulos.
The final opportunity of the encounter fell to Lagoudakis in the 85? minute but once again Chronopoulos was not going to be caught out unprepared.
After the game Calleja acknowledged that his side failed to capitalise on some of their chances.
?We created a fair few chances which is positive, but we didn?t put them away,? he said. ?I thought other than the goal we were quite comfortable defending.
?Credit to my boys because they kept trying and they kept going but I guess it wasn?t meant to be our night.
?I was a bit disappointed with the way we came out though. Marconi, to their credit, I thought played well and they scrapped hard.
?They made it hard for us to break them down and we got a little frustrated as the game went on, but we?ll aim to be consistent this year and win, and play well every week and see where that takes us.?
Lee Sterrey, on the other hand, was delighted to have secured the three points and also pointed out that the arrival of four African players will strengthen his side including as early as next week against the South Coast Wolves in Wollongong.
?I am happy because a lot of young kids got their chance tonight,? he said. ?We had four players making their debuts at this level.
?Marconi has a lot good junior talent and there are some really good kids in this club, so I am elated with the win tonight.
?The kids have got to step up and that?s what they did, and that?s what football is all about: opportunity.
?Ousmane Toure and Vamara Diarra are coming back to the club and I?ve got Tape Aguy, who is a striker from Cameroon, and Ali Yamgue, who is an attacking midfielder from the Ivory Coast, joining us and three of these four are coming back this week.
?Diarra wasn?t originally coming back because of the budgetary constraints but then we lost Nahuel Arrarte at the last minute to Korea.
?We can?t find another Nahuel Arrarte around and Diarra is the closest thing and I?m delighted to have him.
?South Coast next week away will be a difficult game but with our three imports coming in this week we should be ready to go.
?We?ll certainly play an attacking brand of football this year ? we had to lock up the game tonight because we were down on numbers and players were running out of legs ? but, overall, we are a side that will play some attractive and attacking football this year.?
Meanwhile, in the under 20s West Sydney Berries defeated Marconi Stallions 3-2.
Marconi Stallions 1 (Alexsander Canak 44?)
West Sydney Berries 0
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Marconi Stadium, Bossley Park
Referee: Gerard Parsons
Assistant Referees: Steven Nguyen and Adam Coombes
Marconi Stallions: 22.James Chronopoulos; 2.Brenton Rhodes, 4.Umut Tokdogan (29.Robert Tribria 86?), 5.Adel El Jamal, 8.Aleksander Canak, 9.Erick Anabalon (14.Daniel Ott 63?), 11.Matthew Gordon, 23.Christopher Nunes, 25.Domenic Trimboli, 34.Nathan Jagelman (18.Jared Lum 70?), 42.Giorgio Speranza.
Substitutes Not Used: 21.Jose Bello-Amigo, 44.Damien Travis
Yellow Cards: Umut Tokdogan 46?
Red Cards: Nil
West Sydney Berries: 1.Hamish McLean, 2.David Gardiner, 3.Omar Saadi (35.Damir Prodarovic 86?), 5.Ryan Walsh, 6.Jack Sobczyk, 9.Fadi Ghosson, 11.Archie Kotsopoulos, 14.Liam Austin (10.John Tsironis 61?), 15.Ryan Jones (12.Stefan De Jesus 61?), 16.Kosta Lagoudakis, 17.Sash Tirovski.
Substitutes Not Used: 22.Cem Akili, 20.James O?Rourke
Yellow Cards: Archie Kotsopoulos 54?, David Gardiner 87?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Aleksander Canak (MS)
2 – James Chronopoulos (MS)
1 – Kosta Lagoudakis (WSB)

-By Joe Russo