Sydney United 58 FC struck once in each half to sneak a 2-0 win over Marconi Stallions at Sydney United Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon.
Matthew Bilic and Stjepan Paric scored to end their side’s four match league losing streak ahead of next weekend’s crucial match away at Sydney Olympic.
Sydney United keeper Pasfield was pleased to have kept Marconi scoreless, and more so with the result.
“I haven’t had a clean sheet for a while so it’s nice to get that, but more important are the three points and the win,” Pasfield said.
It was actually Marconi’s Ryan Peterson who had the best chance of the first half when the ball popped up awkwardly ahead of him at the top of the box, but he could only nudge a weak header to Justin Pasfield in the United goal.
Anyone watching who might have doubted Jack Press’ fitness after being heavily involved in the under-20 game earlier in the afternoon would have been pleasantly surprised by the way the striker put himself about early in this match, harassing United defenders into giving up possession with long, aimless passes upfield.
He found himself isolated up front when his side was in possession, however, and struggled to win the first few aerial challenges against his opposing defenders.
With the match beginning to open up after a fast-paced, nervy start from both sides, Sydney United took the initiative with an early goal.
Bilic opened the scoring with a simple finish at the near post after good work from Paric down the left side to control a pass from the midfield and square across to his teammate in the centre.
Up 1-0 after just eight minutes, the home side might have scored again immediately after the restart when the ball broke loose on the edge of the area, but the goalkeeper charged forward to gather, with suggestions that he might have taken the ball over the line and out of the penalty box waved away by the referee.
Both sides had terrific chances to add to Bilic’s single goal with opportunities from the dead ball as halftime closed in.
First, Marconi’s Jacob Boutoubia forced Pasfield into a fine save with a low shot that threatened to creep inside the bottom left corner, before Marconi keeper Sam Nastic found himself making an equally spectacular stop from a Panagiotis Nikas effort at the other end; diving across goal push the ball wide for a corner.
Marconi was made to work after the restart, with the home team eager to put some distance between themselves and their opponents on the scoreboard early in the second half.
Emmauel Giannaros went close with a header from a corner, his effort skipping just past the post, before Mark Cindric was presented with an opportunity to tap into an empty net from a tight angle after rounding the goalkeeper, but he sliced his shot high over the bar.
The second goal came when a deep pass from Nikas in the right channel found Koen Bosma on the left, who cut back inside and crossed for Paric arriving in the middle; the player making no mistake with a gentle volleyed finish past a helpless D’Antimo.
