A-Leagues: Central Coast Mariners record ALM derby win, suffer injury time loss in ALW
The Central Coast Mariners broke through for their first ALM win of the season in the F3 Derby, with the coach revealing how some stress was key to their turnaround.
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It was another mixed bag for the Central Coast Mariners, with the club experiencing both the highest of highs and heartbreaking losses in what was an eventful weekend of A-League football.
After four losses to kick off the season, the men’s team hit form in the best possible fashion with a strong 3-1 win over arch-rivals Newcastle in the F3 Derby on Saturday.
Meanwhile on Sunday, the ALW side was left to rue some slips in concentration as it conceded an injury-time goal to lose to 2-1 to the Melbourne Victory.
Catch up with the latest news and main talking points with Mariners Central.
‘SMELL IT IN THE AIR’
Central Coast coach Mark Jackson just had a feeling that there was something different about his team as the players arrived at Central Coast Stadium for the big derby against the Jets.
While they came into the game on the back of four straight losses, the Mariners were excellent from the opening whistle as they beat Newcastle 3-1 to record their first three points of the season.
“There was just a sense,” said Jackson. “I don’t know whether you can smell it in the air in the dressing room. The players are always focused but I just sensed something different today.
“My interactions with the players post-game was limited. And at halftime we go into the halftime dressing room and the players are solving problems themselves, and as a manager that’s fantastic to hear.”
And while any win is a good one, the coach was particularly pleased to do it in a derby in front of their own fans.
“We knew it was a derby, we know what it means to the fans and we know what it means that we needed that first win.”
SECRET BEHIND THE SUCCESS
Recording four straight losses was one of the worst starts to the season the Mariners have had, though it was partly justified by the drastic changes to the squad and coaching staff the club had seen since its championship glory last season.
It was evident over the first month that something just wasn’t clicking within the team, and coach Jackson decided to take a different approach to training sessions during the international break.
Paramount+ sideline reporter Ben Homer reported that Jackson had focused heavily on game simulations and sought to really put the team under some physical strain during the break, which included a good old fashioned dune session.
The coach said he could see that fatigue was a big factor behind poor decision-making and defensive errors, and that the best way to fix that was to put the team through its paces.
“We all understand that but the best way to do that is to replicate it on the training ground,” Jackson said after the match.
“We try to replicate that intensity that a match brings and within that, players need to make decisions, so we trained extremely hard over the period from the last game, extremely hard, and we stressed the players on the pitch as well.
“And within those stressful situations they had to make decisions – technical decisions and tactical decisions with their decision-making as well.”
SIGN OF THINGS TO COME
While the team has struggled for goals and cohesion in the final third so far this season, they certainly turned that around against the Jets, scoring three, hitting the post once and creating several other good chances in what was a far more fluent performance.
Storm Roux snuck in at the back stick to bury a Jacob Farrell cross on the stroke of halftime, before Will Wilson and Jing Reec scored their first goals for the club to seal the three points.
And while fans were delighted with what they saw, Jackson says they should get used to watching that brand of exciting football.
“That’s the way we want to play,” said Jackson after the game. “We want to play on the front foot, we want to play an attacking style, we want to create chances, we want to score goals – and we know that’s been a problem for us this season. But we’ve shown today with the goals we’ve scored that we can do that.”
He added: “We saw a lot of elements of how we want to play and how we want this team to look… They biggest part of that today was the togetherness of the players. It was massive. I could see that on the pitch, I could feel it – I felt it all week in the lead-up to it.”
FULLBACKS RUN WILD
As the Mariners find their feet under Jackson, fullbacks Jacob Farrell and Storm Roux have emerged as key players.
In fact, Roux’s goal on the cusp of halftime was set up by a brilliant cross from leftback Farrell, who said it finally feels like everything is starting to click.
“Jacko’s just said to me, ‘Play freely and do what you do best,’ he’s said that to all the boys,” Farrell told Paramount+ after the match.
“It’s starting to come together now and we’ve got a good run and hopefully we can get some good wins in the next few weeks.”
Jackson said it was all part of the plan to make the fullbacks more involved in goal scoring opportunities.
“We’ve been talking to our fullbacks about their responsibilities defending, of course, but how they need to be creators and goalscorers as well,” he said.
“We want to be on the front foot and go forward, so it’s great to see Storm score a goal. He’s been great since I’ve come in as a real leader in the team, he’s got that experience in there, he leads really well, so I was delighted for him.”
DEFENSIVE ERRORS COSTLY IN ALW HEARTBREAK
While it was ecstasy for the men, it was heartbreak for the Mariners’ women, who conceded an injury time goal to go down 2-1 to the Melbourne Victory.
While the Victory were good value for their win, the Mariners will nevertheless be rueing some defensive lapses that ultimately cost the team badly.
For the Victory’s first goal, the Mariners were outjumped by Tori Elizabeth Hansen from a corner, before failing to close down striker Kurea Okino, who had too much space inside the six-yard box to smash the loose ball home.
If conceding in those circumstances was frustrating, then the matchwinner must have been infuriating for Mariners coach Emily Husband, with a calamity of defensive errors allowing the Victory to take all three points.
As the Victory pushed forward, both Kayla Morrison and Faye Bryson both missed excellent opportunities to close the attack down, with McKenzie Weinert strolling through to put the ball away from 12 yards and win the game.
WURIGUMULA A BRIGHT SPARK
While the team lost, there were some positives for the Mariners, with Central Coast attacker Wurigumula continuing her strong start to the season.
The Chinese international was a regular threat going forward, putting through a lovely chip to set up Isobel Gomez with a golden opportunity in the 14th minute, before outmuscling two Victory defenders to record a shot on goal halfway through the first half.
Her work didn’t go completely unrewarded though, with a great turn and ball through to Faye Bryson leading to the Mariners’ only goal of the match.
BRYSON MAKES HER MARK
English import Faye Bryson made her presence felt against Victory, scoring midway through the second half to level things up at 1-1.
Bryson has had a disrupted start to life as a Mariner, receiving a red card in the round one loss to Newcastle, her A-Leagues debut, and then coming on as a substitute in the round five win over Wellington.
Coming off the bench again in the match against the Victory, the Bryson’s well-taken goal and ability to push forward could give Emily Husband’s side more options as the season progresses.
ARE THE MARINERS MISSING KYAH?
A veteran international who was part of the squad for the Matilda’s history-making Women’s World Cup campaign, Kyah Simon loomed as a huge coup for the Mariners’ after signing on with the club for the season.
However after receiving multiple setbacks in her return from a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus in 2022, the 32-year-old is yet to feature for the team this season.
The Mariners have one of the youngest squads in the competition, and while that raw talent has been effective for the team so far this season, a player with the experience and quality of the 111-capped international could help improve the side’s cohesion with the ball.
Unfortunately for the club, it’s not clear when Mariners fans will see Simon in yellow and navy, with the attacker recently telling Code Sports that she’s just seeing how her body recovers and has no a specific timeframe for a return.
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