Marconi made to work for points against Bankstown City

Marconi Stallions dispensed with Bankstown City in a tight contest after both teams were not willing to concede anything to each other. Bankstown were clearly feeling fatigued after playing 120 minutes of football in a midweek contest in the Waratah Cup.

After the game Marconi’s coach Luke Casserly was pleased with the three points despite having to work enormously hard for them.

“I thought it was an enormous three points tonight because we have Sydney United, Manly and Bonnyrigg all away from home coming up” he said.

“Bankstown, coming from those 120 minutes on Wednesday, probably tried to slow the game down as much as they could especially in the first half.

“I thought our back four were outstanding with another clean sheet and I am very pleased with that.”

In the 12th minute a free kick from Steven Bozinovksi beat all concerned before ending up just wide of the Marconi goal.

Marconi’s reply almost paid dividends in the 17th minute when Matthew Mayora out-jumped all his opponents before heading the ball onto the post. It was a close call indeed for the visitors.

A few minutes later another dangerous free-kick was floated in by Bozinovski but Freddie Graham was unable to head the ball despite his gallant effort in jumping above all of his opponents.

Marconi should have scored in the 30th minute when a dangerous ball from the left reached Nahuel Arrarte who fired in a rocket that was wonderfully punched away by the veteran Joseski from close range.

In the 38th minute Marconi did score when Arrarte crossed from the left and Daniel Petkovski, who is only 17, stretched out a leg between two defenders and scored with elegance and poise well beyond his years.

It is rumoured that the talented Petkovski may look to go overseas after the season because apparently he has already tried his luck in Scotland and is keen to secure a contract in Europe.

“I really hope that he keeps going the way he is, with a good career because he is a talented boy who works very hard, has a fantastic mentality and I am sure he will go a long way,” said Casserly.

Just before the break Bankstown City could have equalised when a lovely ball from the right by Hussein Salameh crossed the entire face of goal before finishing up wide of the goal.

In the second half both sides started rather slowly after a rough end to the first half which did produce an array of yellow cards.

In the 58th minute a Petkovski corner was well met by Christopher Nunes but he couldn’t keep his close-range header on target.

After 73 minutes Marconi should scored their second goal when Matthew Mayora let loose with a rocket from some distance out that was parried by Joseski.

The ball slipped into the feet of an oncoming Josh Sama who somehow missed the target. It was an incredible miss that Sama luckily didn’t have to regret.

Marconi failed to score again when in the 76th minute Nunes crossed nicely for Mayora to head home only to be denied by an alert Joseski. It was the last real chance of a rather dour encounter.


MARCONI STALLIONS 1
(Petkovski 38’)

BANKSTOWN CITY 0

MARCONI: 22. James Chronopoulos, 2. Andrew Mailer, 3. Ali Haydar, 6. Brenton Rhodes, 8. Sean O’Connell, 14. Graziano Trimboli, 15. Matthew Mayora (9. Keith Shevlin 78’), 20. Josh Sama (11. Matthew Gordon 85’), 23. Christopher Nunes (7. Tim McGowan 92’), 24. Daniel Petkovski, 26. Nahuel Arrarte.

YELLOW CARDS: Haydar 32’, Nunes 39’, Mayora 66’

RED CARDS: Nil

BANKSTOWN CITY: 1. Zlatko Joseski, 4. Blaz Dejanovic, 6. Daniel Slaveski (25. Daniel Zeleny 38’), 8. Peter Peralta, 9. Shannon Burgin (14. Nathan Ristevski 83’), 10. Hussein Salameh, 15. Steven Bozinovski, 18. Lenox Tweneboa, 19. Steven Krsteski, 20. Frederick Graham, 92. Aman Hadid.

YELLOW CARDS: Bozinovski 43’, Burgin 45’

RED CARDS: Nil