A strong second half performance from the Marconi Stallions helped them come away with a 5-2 win over our NPL NSW side on Saturday night at Wanderers Football Park.
Without a host of key players including top scorer Nathaneal Blair and the centre back partnership of Alex Bonetig and Nathan Barrie, the Wanderers fought hard for 50 minutes before Marconi’s experience helped them to victory.
It was another quick start to the match as the visitors took the lead after four minutes through Hiroaki Aoyama, but the Wanderers hit back instantly when Alex Badolato’s neat flick found Zac Sapsford, who dinked the ball over James Hilton and into the goal.
It was an entertaining first half as both goalkeepers pulled off key stops to keep the score locked at 1-1; Hilton made good stops from Adam Bugarija and Dylan Scicluna efforts, whilst Taiga Harper made a fantastic reflex stop at point blank range to deny Marconi.
The key moment of the game came in the 50th minute, when Marcus Younis somehow had a shot cleared off the line by Cameron Windhust, denying the Wanderers an almost certain goal.
It would shift the momentum of the match completely, as just three minutes later Marconi hit the front after Aoyama got his second from a great solo run and finish.
Marconi had the momentum, and took advantage by getting a third goal on the hour mark through Domenic Costanzo.
Andrew Christiansen turned to the bench to swing the game back in his sides favour, and Awan Lual almost made an instant impact off the bench, but his shot was also cleared off the line.
Marconi then added two goals in eight minutes, with captain Marko Jesic getting the first from close range, before Badolato was unfortunate to put the ball in his own net,
The Wanderers kept fighting to the end, and Adam Bugarija got a consolation goal in stoppage time after going around Hilton and slamming the ball into the back of the net.
Whilst the margin wasn’t perhaps reflective of the closeness of the game, the Wanderers drop to third in the table as the season reaches the halfway mark; they travel to face Sutherland Sharks on Saturday afternoon.
