A double-strike from new signing Joe Spiteri fired Marconi Stallions to their second consecutive win in the National Soccer League on November 8, as they downed a dogged Football Kingz combination 2-1 at Bossley Park to continue their climb up the league ladder.      Despite dominating the early proceedings, the home team had just one opportunity to show for their plentiful possession, Tony Perinich being foiled by the fit-again Michael Utting in the eleventh minute, after a raking clearance from Michael Turnbull had been allowed to bounce by a new-look Kingz rearguard, which featured debutant Ben Sigmund.      The visitors made light of having to play in unfamiliar stifling conditions, and came back into the match after Marconi's early pressure. Tame efforts from Patricio Almendra and Chris Jackson were followed by a sizzling twenty-yard drive from the well-performed Jeff Campbell in the twentieth minute, the ball flying over Turnbull's crossbar.      From the resulting goal-kick, Marconi surged downfield, Spiteri beating a couple of players on the right before pulling the ball back from the byline for Perinich. He laid the ball back into Darren McDonald's path, the midfielder unleashing a crisply-struck twenty-yard drive which Utting could only parry. Jackson came to his colleague's rescue, however, stepping in to deny Grant Last the opportunity to open the scoring.      A fine flowing move from the Kingz, featuring a delightful Harry Ngata back-heel and a hard-charging run from deep by Raf de Gregorio came to a sudden halt just inside Marconi's penalty area, when Turnbull bravely saved at the midfielder's feet as the Kingz player opted to try to round the advancing custodian, rather than fire an early shot.      It sparked another Marconi counter-attack which saw Shane Webb release Alex Brosque down the left, his cross being headed to safety by Sigmund as Spiteri and Perinich closed in for the kill.      Utting denied Perinich and Spiteri soon afterwards, while the Kingz goalkeeper produced the save of the match in the 38th minute, tipping the ball over the crossbar to deny Perinich, after Spiteri and Paul Cotte had combined to present the striker with the chance to open the scoring.      Two minutes later, the Kingz came close to breaking the deadlock. The otherwise ineffective Andy Vlahos picked out the well-performed James Pritchett with a cross-field ball, and his teasing cross picked out Ngata on the far post, the striker having drifted off his marker. But what was a difficult headed chance flashed narrowly over the angle.      Marconi's response was to open the scoring, four minutes before half-time. Cotte, Perinich and Last combined in midfield, despite Jackson's best efforts to dispossess the second- and third-mentioned players.      Last clipped a ball over the top of the Kingz defence, and Spiteri was onto it in an instant and, despite the tight angle, cracked a shot across the advancing Utting and into the far corner of the net - a very well-taken strike which delighted the 3,040 present.      Straight from the kick-off, the Kingz charged downfield, led by Pritchett. He angled a cross to the far post for Ngata, who sent a header crashing against the crossbar which was deserving of better fate.      Only a super covering tackle by Campbell prevented Brosque from doubling Marconi's advantage three minutes into the second spell, as the Kingz rearguard were prised open by Webb's defence-splitting pass. Four minutes afterwards, tempers frayed as Almendra was, not for the first time in the match, taken out of play by foul means rather than fair. He voiced his frustrations at Marconi's spoiling tactics to portly referee Brett Hugo, who promptly wielded the yellow card to the Chilean international, an act

he repeated seconds later as Kingz captain, Jackson, queried the decision. Tony Sekulic, the offender on this occasion, got away scot-free, despite having stamped on the prone Almendra's knee, an act to which de Gregorio was quick to apportion summary justice by literally applying a forewarning forearm, which sent the defender to the turf. The New Zealand international can consider himself fortunate that his part in the incident was not seen by any of the officials. After Sigmund had headed clear to deny Perinich the chance to head home a Chad Gibson free-kick, Marconi doubled their advantage in the 56th minute with an exquisite finish. Perinich's deep corner was headed into the danger zone by Dominic Longo. Spiteri got in between two defenders, chested the ball down, turned and volleyed a fifteen yarder into the top right-hand corner of Utting's net, the 'keeper barely moving as the ball fizzed past him. Ngata headed a Campbell free-kick into the sidenetting soon afterwards, as the Kingz sought a quick riposte, but Perinich and Brosque could have extended Marconi's lead just after the hour mark, the latter being foiled by the solidly-performed Darren Young's timely interception, as the left-footed striker looked to use his right foot for balancing purposes once again. Turnbull and Utting made respective saves from Kingz substitute Mark Beldham and Marconi's star turn, Spiteri, look easy inside the next ten minutes, before the home team were left to look nervously at their watches for the last sixteen minutes of the game, a result of a deserved goal for the Kingz, who, by now, were chasing something from the match, and had reverted to their more accustomed 3-4-3 formation. Fittingly, it was Ngata who scored the goal - he led by example throughout, and was, despite Spiteri's best efforts and fine finishing, arguably the best-performed player on the park. He dived in where angels fear to tread to do full justice to a vicious curling cross from Pritchett in the 74th minute, after the promptings of Almendra, and the off-the-ball running of Sigmund, had engineered some space from which the talented wide man could deliver the ball. The nerves were jangling in Marconi's camp for the remainder of the match, a fact reflected by their propensity to concede free-kicks in an effort to break up the Kingz rhythm. It proved an effective, if unpleasant, tactic, and had the desired effect, the visitors' lone chance in the time remaining falling to Almendra, a twenty-yard volleyed drive which Turnbull saved. Right at the death, Spiteri could have completed a hat-trick on his home debut. Substitute Steven Bozinovski scampered down the right and played the ball into the goal-hungry striker, who shrugged off the attentions of Sigmund and rounded the advancing Utting, only to be denied his fifth goal in two games by the width of an upright as he shot at the gaping target from a tightening angle. But Spiteri had done enough to secure his side their 2-1 victory, his goals proving to be priceless in Marconi's quest to climb the league table. The Football Kingz, who had the added difficulty of coping with a bout of 'flu in the camp during the week, will once again wonder what might have been, after a result which extended their run of games without a win to six. Marconi:     Turnbull; Sekulic, Longo (booked, 33), Gibson; Cotte (Bozinovski, 80), McDonald (booked, 58) (Anabalon, 85), Last, Webb; Perinich (Thwaite, 68), Spiteri, Brosque (booked, 71) Kingz:          Utting; Pritchett, Atkinson, Sigmund, Young; Vlahos (Beldham, 59), Jackson (booked, 52), de Gregorio, Campbell (Burton, 59); Ngata, Almendra (booked, 52) Referee:     Brett Hugo