The Western Sydney Wanderers NPL 1 first grade team have played out in a one-all draw with Marconi Stallions at a very windy Marconi Stadium on Saturday evening.
The action began very quickly when Marconi took the lead in just the second minute through Lachlan Sepping. A goal-mouth scramble and favourable rebound saw Sepping tuck the ball into the net for the opening goal of the contest.
Five minutes later the Wanderers had their first chance of the match with an attack down the right flank. Thomas Aquilina crossed and found an unmarked Kosta Grozos six yards out, but his first-time effort went just wide.
As a result of the fast start, it felt like it was going to be a very end-to-end match, but this was not the case.
The windy conditions caused havoc for both sides who struggled to maintain possession, resulting in a scrappy and uneventful first half.
Arthur Diles’ team looked better after the break and they were rewarded with an equaliser in the 60th minute. Rory Jordan tapped home his second goal in as many matches for the Wanderers.
Jordan’s goal lifted the team as the Wanderers began to frustrate Marconi through quality possession play, aided by the wind dying down a tad.
Shortly after in the 69th minute there was drama as Connor Evans was shown a straight red card for an incident off the ball. Evans appeared to kick out at Dean Pelekanos and the referee showed zero hesitation at giving the straight red to the Marconi man.
Following the send-off, the youthful Red & Black team piled on the pressure with wave after wave of attack in the last 15 minutes of the match.
Chances fell to Tass Mourdoukoutas and Rory Jordan, but neither could find the killer blow.
Marconi Stallions 1 (Lachlan Sepping 2’)
Western Sydney Wanderers 1 (Rory Jordan 60’)
Western Sydney Wanderers: 40. Oliver KALAC (GK), 2. Thomas AQUILINA, 4. Mohamed AL TAAY (c), 5. Noah PAGDEN (7. Jarrod CARLUCCIO 70’), 6. Fabian MONGE, 10. Kosta GROZOS (9. Duantae MARINER 82’), 11. Lochlan CONSTABLE (24. Peter GOZOS 46’), 13. Tass MOURDOUKOUTAS, 17. Dean PELEKANOS (23. Jamie PERCEVSKI 76’), 19. Rory JORDAN, 35. Ali AUGLAH
Unused Substitutes: 50. Jack GIBSON (GK) ,26. Alessandro LOPANE 28. Isaac HOVER, 30. Mason FERNANDEZ
Other NPL Results
U20: Marconi Stallions 3-1 WSW
U18: Central Coast Mariners 0-1 WSW
U16: Central Coast Mariners 0-0 WSW
U15: Central Coast Mariners 0-4 WSW
U14: Central Coast Mariners 1-1 WSW
U13: Central Coast Mariners 0-5 WSW
