Teams:
MS: Covic (Tomich 93), Casserly, Care, McDonald, Maloney, Marino (Lamond
77), Babic, Awaritefe, Renaud, Souris, Zoric (Van Cuylenberg 66)
CC: Jones, Dee (Brown 77), Zelic, Ravanello, Moric, James, Musitano
(Perinovic 61), Lemezina, Wingell (Buljan HT), Popovich, Haythornwaite
Cautions:
MS: Marino (47+)
CC: Dee (20), Zelic (56), Brown (84)
Officials:
Referee: M. Shields (QLD)
Referee's Assistants: S. Lockrey, J. Tippett
4th Official: B. McKay
A definite improvement on the previous week, but the inability of putting the spherical object into the goal proved the major downfall for the Canberra Cosmos in their away loss to Marconi Stallions. This together with indiscipline in the second stanza allowed the home team to grab all the points.
Both teams were missing a number of top flight players and were in the throws of major re-development under their respective coaches. New plan's of attack and defence were being learnt, and the time to get all this straight would not be immediate.
The Cosmos shaded the locals in the first half through their constructive play and powering runs down both wings. A number of chances were generated but none converted. Both goalkeepers were playing well in this period with Paul Jones saving at the feet of Vlado Zoric and Ante Covic cancelling a number of good attempts by the likes of Tony Lemezina, Ante Moric and headers by Tom Haythornwaite.
The pairing of Lemezina and Harry James is still in the building stage as each of them are getting to know each other's play. Unfortunately, a good example of this occured after a Haythornwaite head down from a cross fell in between the two forwards. It appeared that the understanding was not there as Tony wanted to take a first time shot while Harry pushed it towards him. In the end, Lemezina had to scramble and his shot on the turn was well saved by Covic.
Dale Wingell, who was playing as right wing back was causing no end of trouble and it was unfortunate that a stomach virus attacked him 45 minutes too early as he was sorely missed throughout the second half. James tried valiantly to perform the role now vacated, but was too much out of place.
The second stanza commenced the same way that the crowd had seen through the first with the visitors attacking. Peter Buljan, who had come on for Wingell, had a good chance, but for an acrobatic save by Covic. This was to be the last real chance for the Cosmos.
The game started to swap towards the Stallions as members of the Canberra team tried to play in a way different to what the coach wanted. A lack of discipline evolved and the locals domination effected much pressure on the Cosmos defence. A few of the visiting players ventured too far forward and on more than one occasion were caught out. This was very visible on the left side of the defence.
Eventually, a lapse in defence led to a late challenge by Ivan Zelic that not only gained Marconi a free kick only 20-odd metres out, but Ivan a caution. Whilst the wall was being set Marconi tried to take the free kick and passed the ball out wide to Luke Casserly, but the referee called it back. Strangely enough, when they were allowed to proceed with the free kick, they did exactly the same thing. Casserly's cross was not cleared by the defence. It eventually fell to Zeljko Babic who acrobatically crossed the ball and Brad Maloney finished things off with a powerfull header.
A quarter of an hour later Brendan Renaud received the ball wide left. His low cross was met at the near post by Babic. Zeljko was able to get a shin onto the ball to deflect it just inside the post. The crowd went wild and the Cosmos now had an uphill battle to get a result.
A few substitutes later and big Marko Perinovic had entered the fray, and for the first time in the season, as a forward. He replaced Michael Musitano who was certainly not as effective as against Sydney United the previous week. With only minutes to go Marko and Covic contested for a ball. Unfortunately, the young goalkeeper came out the worse and had to be helped from the field.
So a two goal win for Marconi who overall deserved to take the points as they were in the game for the full ninety minutes. Branko Culina was unhappy with the team's discipline in the second half. He felt that there were patches throughout the first stanza, but the team needs to improve on this to bring this good time of play to more than just the first half. Culina was happy with the way that Toplica Popovich played, having marked Marconi danger man Francis Awaritefe throughout the game.
Branko continued that it takes time to get things going and if the team can continue to believe in themselves then the football they will play on the field will be better and the results will come.
Zoran Matic said that "it was always going to be a tussle". He felt that the visitors were much fitter than his team and that there would me a need for more work in that area if the results were to come. Asked about the number of youngsters in the team, he said that a number of players had been sold from the team and that he will continue to play them as long as they fit in with the team.