Coniston made it seven wins from seven starts this season when they beat an in from Thirroul 3-1 at Thomas Gibson Park. The Thursday night meeting between 2nd and 3rd was decided off the boot of Coniston’s new star man Mark Picciolini, who netted his second hat-trick in as many matches.

Picciolini got the ball rolling for the visitors with less than a minute on the clock. Hiroaki Kohinoki knocked in a deep cross for the former Corrimal Ranger who controlled the ball before a snap shot into the bottom right corner. The early strike would be followed by a dominant 10 minutes from Coniston with Thirroul barely managing to get out of their own half.

Once the Thunder were able to press out, they worked a couple of decent half chances. In the 11th minute, Josh Hutton found himself on the right edge of the Coniston box but his firm hit was saved by Ben McGinnes. Two minutes later, Nathan Mucci played Matthew Kellond through on goal but his shot from a tight angle produced another stop from the Coniston goalkeeper.

In the 26th minute, Picciolini nearly doubled Coniston’s lead when he turned and shot in the middle of the area but Josh Williams was able to make a scrambling save to his right. Within a minute, the importance of that stop increased when Thirroul pulled level. Mucci swung in a corner from the left that flew over the head of McGinnes and inside the far post. The wind was a hindrance for the goalkeeper, however, he would have been disappointed to concede in such a manner.

Dinko Terzic, who was wearing the captain’s armband for Coniston, had a couple of chances in the final five minutes of the first half to retake the lead. In the 40th minute, he hit a looping half-volley from the edge of the box which Williams was able to backtrack and catch on the line. Three minutes later Terzic lined up from distance but the effort was easily stopped by the Thirroul number 1 leading to the sides going into halftime level with one goal apiece.

In the opening stages of the second half, Coniston had a trio of decent opportunities through Picciolini, Terzic and Kohinoki which were all squandered. In the 60th minute, Kohinoki had another chance with an effort from the right of the box but Williams was able to tip the ball over the bar. Williams couldn’t do anything about Coniston’s next shot on goal eight minutes later with the ball flying across the box, finding Picciolini who made no mistake in finding the back of the net.

With 20 minutes left to play, the home side nearly grabbed their second equaliser of the night. Mucci knocked in a free kick from within five metres of the corner flag, Daniel Bond and Daniel Arthur both rose for the ball, with the former seemingly get the decisive header but McGinnes made up for his previous error by making an impressive close-range block.

While Thirroul pride themselves on battling until the end, Coniston were coming home with a wet sail. In the 80th minute, Picciolini forced Williams into another solid stop after a skirmish in the box and within two minutes of that chance, substitute Christian Plakias had an effort from just inside the box the flew over the crossbar.

In the 88th minute, a Coniston counter led to Terzic thumping a low drive from 20 metres out but the Thunder goaltend somehow managed to save the ball in between his legs. As the match ticked into added on time the away side wrapped up the three points with their third goal of the evening. Picciolini was played through before a tidy finish into the right of the goal - the lethal striker’s sixth goal in three halves of football, rocketing him to the top of the goalscoring charts. The two remaining minutes were played out with Coniston winning the match 3-1.

The victory sees Coniston move to the top of the table, at least until Bellambi’s trip to Berkeley on Saturday afternoon. Coniston coach Rod Williams admitted he was happy with his side’s start to the season, however, he believes the best is yet to come, “I don’t think we have played out best football yet… When we click we’ll be a dangerous side.” This match was the first in a tough five-match run which sees them play last year’s Grand Final winners Warilla at JJ Kelly Park next weekend.

As for Thirroul, the defeat ends their five-match winning run. They will remain in 3rd baring Warilla beating Balgownie by seven goals or more (or Balgownie beating Warilla by 15 goals or more for that matter). The Thunder will look to get back on the horse next weekend when they travel to Kooloobong Oval to face the Students.

 

Thursday 3 May 2018 @ Thomas Gibson Park

 

Thirroul Thunder - 1 (MUCCI 27’)

 

Coniston FC - 3 (PICCIOLINI 1’, 68’ 90+1’)

 

Thirroul Thunder - Josh WILLIAMS, Daniel BOND, Daniel ARTHUR, Tom GOODIER, Josh HUTTON, Ashley RYAN, Ryan LATINI, Todd DAVIDSON, Matthew KELLOND, Nathan MUCCI, Angus NICOL

 

Subs - Nick BEETEN (on for RYAN), Adam WARD (on for MUCCI), Corey HAINES-GROSE (on for NICOL), Marcus RUSBOURNE

 

Coach - Garth BOWLEY

 

Coniston FC - Ben MCGINNES, Takayuki KAYANO, Hiroaki KOHINOKI, Kohei ENOKIDO, Dinko TERZIC, Chris STEFANOVSKI, Brad MOREIRA, Julian CESTA-INCANI, Matt CUDA, Ryan VANDENBERG, Mark PICCIOLINI

 

Subs - Cameron SOLEVSKI, Lachlan MARTIN (on for CESTA-INCANI), Frank PIERRO (on for VANDENBERG), Valon RIZVANI, Christian PLAKIAS (on for STEFANOVSKI)

 

Coach - Rod WILLIAMS

 

Referee - Brodie Merchant

 

Assistant Referees - Ethan Lehn, Aaron Wardle

 

Report by Dylan Arvela

 

Photo courtesy of Coniston FC