Marconi Stallions 0 Blacktown City 1
Blacktown City returned to winning ways on a glorious Sunday at Marconi Stadium, a single goal enough to take the three points and keep the pressure on the top four in the Football NSW Girls Youth League 2 Under 18s. A magnificent strike by midfield maestro Emily Jackson edged the visitors in front midway through an entertaining first half, and despite a host of half-chances, City couldn’t build on that lead as the game progressed. A world-class save by Courtney Mackenzie preserved the lead as Emma Dugandzic threatened to equalise late in the second half, but the day belonged to City in a frantic closing period.
With a delayed kick off and a depleted refereeing team for the third week running, this was far from an ideal start to the day, but the bright sunshine and faint wind gave us perfect conditions for football on the pristine new surface of Marconi Stadium’s outer playing fields. Marconi’s central defensive pair of Mary Palogiannidis and Matilda Egan were tasked with shutting out City, and with the ever-calm and relaxed Aesha Rosas behind them, there would be little joy for the shot-shy visitors. City grabbed the initiative, Zoe Thompson clipping a delightful ball over for Sienna Bell on the run, but Rosas was out smartly to save.
The lively Jaydaleah Browning on the right won a corner, and Eden Babakian rose to connect with the header but couldn’t get anythiong onto it. A miskicked clearance from Mackenzie then fell to Babakian, but she couldn’t find a way past Mackenzie who was down quickly to make the save. At the other end, Bell played a pass in for Thompson, who chipped an outrageous ball back towards Bell, but Egan was across and drew the foul from the ever-eager midfield dynamo. Lara Green combined with Thompson to race away up the left, but the spectre of the missing assistant referee made the referee err on the side of caution and she was called offside.
A wild clearance from Courtney Kitching then awarded Marconi another corner. The cross was smashed into the area by Babakian, but there were no takers for a very presentable chance. The open attacking football continued as Lily Waterhouse advanced up the right for City; she played in a ball for Thompson who casually flicked the ball past her defender to run on to, but Rosas had read it well. Sienna Carrasco was looking lively on the left for the home team, and she cut in to fire in a shot that went wide of Mackenzie’s near post.
City pressed. Waterhouse threaded a pass to Thompson, but the move broke down, before Aurelia Smith slotted a through ball for Bell, who gave chase up against Egan, but lost her footing as she was about to shoot and thudded to the floor with some force. Intricate triangles involving Loretta Stivala and Browning saw Kitching cut out the cross from the right, and from the subsequent attack, Bell played in Thompson, but again Rosas had advanced quickly and made the save. A tentative flicked shot from Waterhouse may have been better executed as Green did the spade work on the left, and then Emily Chandran followed the shouts to play a long back pass to Mackenzie, but Dugandzic had read it and the City goalkeeper had to be quick to clear the danger.
City continued to play counter-attacking football. Smith fed Green and the defence was opened up for a moment until Palogiannidis raced across to force the ball away for a corner. The sight of Kitching racing from defence was enough to set a technical director’s pulse racing, and she found herself at right wing for an instant, pressing to try and win the ball; Waterhouse did nick the ball back and played in Thompson, who received an almighty boot from behind, leaving her on the ground. Play went on long enough for Kitching’s eyes to light up, and she powered in a shot that just cleared the crossbar. That gave time for the physio to be summonsed to the field, Thompson holding her neck as she left the field in pain.
Marconi conceded a cheap corner as City threatened up the left. Jackson swung in the corner, Kitching lost flight of the ball, but Waterhouse was there, unmarked and on the volley, but she could only get a toe to the ball and the shot was well wide. City were hunting for the elusive goal, and when Green played a long searching ball over the top for Bell, there was no way she was going to pull out of the challenge with Rosas, but the Marconi goalkeeper got there first and Bell bounced off her. A clever steal by Evdokia Papafilopoulos saw Jackson take over and feed Green on the left, who bore down on the penalty area, but the shot from outside the area was never going to trouble Marconi keeper Rosas.
When a loose ball popped up on the left, Jackson was straight onto it. She advanced with the ball at her feet, evaded two challenges and unleashed an unstoppable shot that sailed over Rosas and into the Marconi goal. What a moment to light up an already exciting encounter; City had the upper hand and were going for more. Green flicked the ball over her head and volleyed wide, Rachel Fry, Mikayla Gadd and Papafilopoulos worked an opening on the right before Faith Bugeja was flattened by midfield enforcer Bell. A loose ball came Green’s way, but her snapshot was easy picking for Rosas, before Marconi fasioned a shooting chance. Browning did the hard work on the right and played the ball in for Dugandzic, who turned sweetly but the shot was wide of Mackenzie’s goal.
City finished the half with forward momentum; Gadd raced away on the right with limited options before finding Papafilopoulos, and when the ball squirmed out to Smith, she let rip from fully 40 yards, the ball bouncing harmlessly wide. Superb play by Fry on the right then conjured a pass for Jackson inside, who managed to find Papafilopoulos but again the shot was easy for Rosas.
Half time came, the players headed for the changing rooms to cool down from the beaming winter sun, and we had a classic encounter on our hands.
The sight of the lone referee appearing for the second half, with his single assistant pulling out due to injury, was concerning. Kitching’s kick-off was ballooned into the air as City took a moment to settle into the second half.
Bell got the attacking underway, racing into the left side of the penalty area before flicking a dangerous pass in for Papafilopoulos, but Rosas was there with Palogiannidis in support to smother the ball. City were back to their hustling and harrying best as Fry chased a lost cause up the right. Palogiannidis coughed up possession, Fry played in Papafilopoulos whose shot was deflected away for a corner. Fry’s corner found the head of Smith, and Browning diverted the ball towards her own goal but Rosas was there to prevent the corner.
Angelica Conate cleared up at the back as Marconi threatened to break, and she continued her long run into the home team’s half, but ran out of space. City were purring at this stage. Chandran steered the ball out to Green on the left. A little shimmy and she was away, finding Bell inside, who played the one-two with Papafilopoulos before firing in a shot. The ball was blocked and fell to Chandran who had joined the attack, and Rosas had to get across well to make the save.
Kitching emerged from the defence with the ball and kept going until she offloaded to Papfilopoulos. The touch inside for Bell saw the Marconi defence open up, but Bell’s shot was well wide. Kitching then thundered into a full-blooded challenge on Dugandzic and emerged with the ball to roars of approval from the sidelines, and Green was harshly adjudged to have pushed Stivala to curtail the attack. Smith played Bell down the right and Bell surged past her player, clipping in a cross that was cleared by Palogiannidis; the ball came back in and Bell had a great chance until Faith Bugeja made a superb tackle to block her progress in the penalty area. Papfilopoulos picked up the scraps, rounded the last defender, but screwed the shot past the post, a great chance gone begging.
Gadd and Fry combined on the right, Fry winning the corner. She took the set-piece herself, but it was too close to goal, hitting the outside of the post with Rosas watching, comfortable that it was going out. When Bell was fouled on the left, Kitching was left with a good position to swing in a dangerous ball, but her effort sailed wide of Rosas’ goal. Jackson joined the attack and tried her luck from distance, but this time her effort was well wide, City’s season-long shooting woes continuing.
Browning was now installed into the middle of the park, where she had excelled in the pre-season clash here, and Marconi suddenly had more options. It was City though that kept searching, Bell clipped by Isabella Sarno, allowing Dominique Ashton to float in a free kick that Kitching somehow didn’t get a head to, the ball flashing wide of the post with Kitching ending up in the side-netting after being bundled into the post.
A glorious one-two saw Sarah De Sousa run on to Bell’s exquisite pass, but with the assistant referee now out of the game, the referee had no option but to pull De Sousa up for offside, despite being played well and truly onside. Fry danced up the middle of midfield to release De Sousa, but it was too close to the Marconi goal, Rosas out in a flash.
Marconi then had a great opportunity on the left. Kitching was turned on the sideline, caught out of position, Dugandzic was on to the through ball in a split second, but Chandran raced across to dive into a meaty sliding challenge on the edge of the area that cleared the danger. Incredibly, the referee saw the impeccably-timed challenge as a foul, and more than that, he brandished a yellow card, the City players looking at the official incredulously. The free kick was wasted as Palogiannidis tried a cute training-ground routine, Chandran completing the clearance.
City were always a threat on the break, and when Smith found Jackson in midfield, she sprayed a glorious ball out left to Green, who cut inside and fired in a shot from distance that only just cleared the bar. Smith released Bell on the right, who managed to pull the ball back to De Sousa. A fantastic touch past her defender, and she was in the area with sight of goal, and she smashed the ball off the top of the bar and over. What a moment!
More mysterious officiating saw Jackson penalised for handball after chesting the ball down. The free kick was launched over the top by Palogiannidis and Dugandzic was in a race with Kitching, and the City defender won the duel, scramblinng the ball away. When Kitching then smashed the ball out of defence for the unmarked Green to run on to, the referee couldn’t believe how much space she had and pulled it up for offside, the fans in line with play up in arms. This was getting silly.
Green then played a superb one-two with De Sousa, but the toe-poked shot was straight at Rosas. Surely the pressure would tell, and when Jackson ran through the midfield to find herself one-on-one with the Marconi goalkeeper, Rosas came out on top with a reaction save to beat the shot away.
The referee then waved play on as Browning crumpled to the floor, Jackson taking advantage to slot a ball through for De Sousa, but Palogiannidis was across to clear the danger. There was always a chance that Marconi would get back into the game as the contest reached the 80th minute, and when Browning clipped a ball over for Carrasco, Chandran had to be quick to shepherd the striker out to the sideline. Play was getting frantic, but City weren’t panicking. The big chance did come though, and it was Dugandzic racing through onto her right foot, with Chandran in hot pursuit, and her fierce first-time shot, low to Mackenzie’s left, brough a magnificent save from the City goalkeeper, pushing the ball away from danger.
A lung-busting run by De Sousa kept the ball in on the left; when the ball was half-cleared by the Marconi defence, Green played in Conate on the rampage through the middle but her shot was deflected away for a corner. City’s short corner routine definitely didn’t pay dividends as the ball ended up harmlessly behind. If anyone remembers Socceroos defender Aziz Behich weaving through the Argentine defence in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, that was Conate today, and her unbelievable trickery got her into the penalty area, before losing her footing slightly and the shot was blocked; a brilliant piece of play.
There was time for some comedy game management as Chandran gave us possibly the worst foul throw on record, and the final attack saw Conate feed Waterhouse out on the right, who had no option but to blaze a shot high and wide of the goal to eat up the final seconds of play. The final whistle was welcome, both teams having battled well in an entertaining match, and City had hung on to their slender lead to take another three points and continue their upward trajectory.
The win lifts City level with SD Raiders in fifth, while Marconi stay in twelfth position, a far cry from the promise that we saw when these teams met back in pre-season. The Stallions have a six-pointer at Sutherland Strikers next weekend, while Blacktown City entertain Nepean in a game that could make or break their season. See you all at Landen Stadium next Sunday for that all-important clash.
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