Smithy’s Officially Opened, A Resilient Second Half Effort Not Enough…

Back at home at Seymour Shaw, the Sharks faced a tough test against the leaders, Marconi Stallions, who were looking to respond after their first loss of the season last week. Despite a strong second-half showing from us, Marconi capitalised early and walked away with a 2-0 win.

Marconi started quickly, pouncing on a free kick opportunity in just the third minute to open the scoring through Dominic Costanzo. We dug in and looked to reset, but a long-range strike from James Bayliss doubled the visitors’ lead midway through the half.

We struggled to generate forward momentum in the opening 45, with our shape leaning defensive to absorb the Stallions’ pressure. There were some bright moments, including a neat move before the break where Kotaro Katsuta slipped a pass to Dane Anderson, but the shot fell comfortably for the Marconi keeper.

The boys came out with renewed belief in the second half, showing more intent and energy from the restart. We earned a couple of early corners—Reuben Awaritefe in particular, doing well to win one through sheer persistence.

Our best chance of the match came in the 63rd minute, when Richie Shoueiki danced past defenders and forced a brilliant save from close range, denied only by a fingertip deflection over the bar.

Richie Shoueiki pressing Marconi Defender.

Marconi kept threatening at the other end, but Danijel Nizic stood tall between the posts, making several key interventions to keep us in the game. Late on, Peter Grozos whipped in a dangerous ball looking for Awaritefe, but we just couldn’t connect cleanly.

Despite the result, Head Coach Steven Zoric was proud of the fight shown by the squad:

“We just asked for character today. I felt like we were a bit slow off the blocks, which was disappointing, but I thought we grew into the game in the second half.

There’s a lot of positives. A few weeks ago we might’ve conceded four or five in a game like that, but we’re improving every week.”

It’s been a tough run of results for us lately, but the team remains united and determined to turn things around. The effort is there, the belief is growing, and the club is proud of the boys for continuing to show heart.

We’ll regroup and go again next week.