In come the Cosmos without a win this season and needing something to appease the fans, Marconi were hopefully to be the victims. There was much hope for this match. Marconi weren't doing so well with a win and a loss and all reports from the game in Newcastle last Friday night were good, but...
"A good team is one that can play for 90 minutes" said Canberra coach Rale Rasic after the game. This was what Marconi did and the Cosmos didn't as the visitors came away with all the points thus relegating Canberra to the bottom of the league with Melbourne Knights.
Canberra started with the same lineup as last week. Clarke as sweeper, Burt and Popovich as defenders. James and Marcina were the wing-backs. Zelic, Musitano and Kelly as the midfielders and Magnacca and Buljan as the forwards. On the bench were a forward in Howarth and two midfielders in Scott Conlon and Prenzoski.
The game did not start out too well with Marconi trying to unsettle the Cosmos. Maloney took out Andrew Clarke as early as the third minute with the young sweeper needing treatment on his left shoulder. If he wasn't going to be able to continue, the team would have had to play with a flat back four.
The early stages of the game saw the Cosmos switching the ball from side to side and generating a number of chances. Nine minutes in Danny Burt was released down the left side and sent in a cross that Peter Buljan was just unable to get to.
One could see in these opening fifteen minutes that the Cosmos were more keen and nearly all of the time won the fifty-fifty balls. The crowd, although still coming in were seeing what we all have wanted to see for so many games. Most inspiring were the two fullbacks, and especially the fight between Danny Burt and Francis Awaritefe.
On one rare occasion, 15 minutes in, Awaritefe was able to get past Danny and into the penalty area. He pulled the ball back invitingly for Trajanovski but the effort was rewarded only with a shot that ballooned over the bar.
A few minutes later Canberra had its chance to open the scoring when Michael Musitano put Buljan through and his lay back found Norman Kelly. Kelly decided not to shoot first time and his hesitation was enough for the defence to recover.
Two minutes later and Phillips, who had been rather quiet up until now thanks to some good marking by the Cosmos, sent in a low free kick. The ball was too good for his attackers and although it bobbled in the 6 yard box, the locals were able to clear for a corner.
Then a delightful move that gave the hometown fans a lot to cheer about. Harry collected the ball in his own penalty area and took it some 70m down the field. When he let go to send it to Magnacca, he was unlucky to find Anthony caught offside in a very close decision.
Unfortuantely, as Rale pointed out after the game, Harry had a good habit of attacking and forgetting his defensive duties. This was to become an undoing later in the game.
With just over 25 minutes gone and long clearance was well brought down by Anthony Magnacca with a defender on his back. After he cleared his defender a delighful ball found Buljan with some space and from 20m out he drilled it past Ante Covic to give the home side the lead.
This was the first time this season that Canberra has led, having of course seen the opponents score in the first 3 minutes in each of the opening two games. It was a deserved goal and many could smell a possible first win on the cards.
The goal brought the crowd more into the game, but unfortunately, it was Marconi who were spurned on by it. They then pushed forward for the equaliser. First a free kick by Vlado Zoric found Marcus Phillips, but his header was well held by Vilson Knezevic. Then Brad Maloney was found himself free in the box, but his shot went past the far post.
The equaliser came with less than ten minutes left in the half. Zoric sent a cross to the far post and found an unmarked Maloney. His header beat Knezevic and rolled into the goal.
There are a few question marks about this goal. Not it's legality, but how the ball made its way past Knezevic and into the net, as Maloney was practically on the goal line when he headed it and the ball was low all the way. The possibility of an own goal is very likely, but no-one has owned up to it yet.
Following the goal, the Cosmos players put their heads down. More evident was the fact that they wanted to defend, even after they took the lead. It's obvious that you won't score goals whilst in your own half, and it was also clear that Rale would need to say a few words at the break to get the team motivated for the second stanza.
As the second half started Magnacca tried to put his mark on the game, first with a through ball to Buljan which needed a last minute tackle by Dominic Longo. Then Anthony himself was put through by Doug Marcina, beat his man but was out-muscled by sweeper Kim just before he could shoot.
Many thought this should have been a penalty, but unlike those from the previous two games, this looked more like a fair shoulder-to-shoulder. Still, it encouraged the crowd to cheer for the home side and boo the officials, and the opposing players.
Eight minutes in and Clarke fiddled too much with the ball as last defender. He was robbed by Trajanovski and had to charge back to try and defend. A number of shots occured after this for Marconi, with the last being deflected away for a corner instead of either in the goal or back for another go.
Two minutes later and a real bad break, and I use the word literally, for the Cosmos and for Harry James. Harry tried to do something he couldn't during the first half and that was to defend. Something happened and the next thing we knew was that he was laying on the ground in agony.
News just in. Harry is in plaster. He has a transverse fracture of his right foot and ligament damage to his big toe. The prognosis is minimum 4 weeks. With Lindsay also out for at least another 3 to 5 weeks through a dislocated shoulder, things are starting to look bad.
Harry was carried off and on came Scott Conlon for his EC debut. The change meant that Musitano moved back into Harry's position and Scott took over from Michael as left midfielder. It was good to see the local make his debut, especially as Scott was only signed late in the week.
Right after Harry went off, Phillips decided that the effort of Maloney early on in the game wasn't enough, so he charged into Clarke with full force. Dr Law was back on the pitch, and this time the Marconi man was shown the colour yellow, although a few in the crowd thought red looked better.
In the eighteenth minute into the second half a long cross ball from Brendan Renaud was good enough to go over Danny Burt's head. Trajanovski brough the ball down with ease, charged for goal and chipped the advancing keeper.
This was not good for the home side as Marconi know too well how to defend leads. Fifteen mnutes of stagnation saw both teams try hard to pass the ball to each other and not their own players.
There was the rare run forward, but the defence was up to the task, especially as more often than not the ball was passed to them or lack of control meant an easy interception.
Fifteen minutes after the goal Trajanovski had a chance to double the margin when Danny Invincible swept through the defence and layed off the ball, but Kris' shot was just inches over the bar.
Just under a quarter of an hour left and really, Marconi went into their shell. It became more of a training run for them as they moved the ball around without any worry about attacking.
There was only one more chance worth noting. A little over five minutes to go and from a long throw the ball went across to Marcina. His cross found Magnacca, but Anthony's header was meek.
Marconi coach Frank Farina was pleased with his team in patches but still felt that a few of his players were not playing to their potential. He said that he was happy with the 3 points and that other teams will find it hard here in Canberra.
Rale was very unhappy with the fact that his team got killed by the ball to the far post. Rale said "we conceded kindergarten goals", and he also felt that the team morale went down after the first goal.