I had advance knowledge that Marconi skipper Brad Maloney would be missing through a training injury and made my way to Parramatta Stadium with a good deal of apprehension as a result.
Being raised in a cultural and footballing sense in sunny Scotland where "possession" is a word usually heard uttered only by the Sheriff in relation to property one should not have had at the time of being visited by Edinburgh's finest, I also had my doubts that Marconi would be able to adapt amicably to the 'possession' style of play that Eddie Krncevic had talked about.
However my fears were unfounded, with Darren McDonald getting through a power of work and showing some deft footballing touches in midfield.
Mark Babic and Dominic Longo blunted Power's attacks, and when they didn't, a completely new, revitalised and confident David Aceski in goals did what was needed.
He had one wonderful save from a free kick in the first half that john Taylor described in his report as "world class" and even if Alan Hunter had uttered this statement I would have agreed with him.
Last season he was absolutely pants, but already the Stallion fans are asking... Ante..who...?
The wily Davie Mitchell attempted to play mind games before the match saying in the press that he hoped Marconi wouldn't be "too physical" and then watched as his players launched themselves in to some questionable tackles, resulting in the flash of yellow..cards that is, not teeth.
One such tackle on Sean Babic (more on him later) resulted in a penalty, which I correctly predicted would be missed by Pan Keun Kim.
Kim is a fine player, but as a penalty taker I'd rate him up there with Frank Farina 8-)
That gave a bit of heart to Power, and David Aceski in goals consequently had the chance to show how much he has matured as a player.
Nil nil at half time, and nobody surely except Groundskeeper Willie could complain about the standard of the entertainment.
Marconi did play a lot of very close intricate one-two's out of defence when under pressure, and although I am as previously suggested, a graduate of the 'get that effin thing out of here' university, as the game wore on I found myself not holding my breath so much when they embarked on such a course of action, which they appeared to have mastered.
Man of the match, and long time favourite of mine, Sean Babic put Marconi ahead, in typical Babic fashion...outpacing the defence and clipping the ball past the advancing keeper.
Babic was outstanding and was only substituted I think because he was absolutely, positively , comprehensively, knackered.
Not many people know about his problems last year but it makes for interesting reading (See Fairfield Advance supplement next week!) but now clear of injury he is jumping out of his skin and trust me folks, will be up there in the scorers charts this year..so get you money on him.
Longo's sending off with about 25 minutes to go was always going to make it hard for Marconi, and when the equaliser did eventually come in the fourth minute of time added on the Marconi faithful were of the opinion that this was two points lost instead of a point gained.
From a completely biased Stallions viewpoint this was the promise of good things to come, and it was pleasing to observe that the marketing campaign appears to be paying dividends with lots of new faces of all ages streaming through the turnstiles in their new Marconi gear.
And YES!!!! THE NEW STRIPS WERE ON SALE IN THE CLUB SHOP PRIOR TO THE SEASON KICK OFF!!!