A-League: Central Coast Mariners boss Sydney FC to win 2-0
THE Central Coast Mariners put together a strong 90-minute performance to humble champions Sydney FC on Friday night.
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“It’s time to earn our stripes,” is the Mariners slogan this season, and in Gosford that was exactly what they did.
Goals to Andrew Hoole and Jake McGing gave Central Coast a 2-0 win over Sydney FC, the home side’s first victory of the campaign and the Sky Blues’ first loss.
On a night that any number of strange statistics came about, the key one was the two goals with which the Mariners deserved to inflict defeat on the champions. On Saturday morning Central Coast find themselves in the top six for only the second time in two years; Sydney FC meanwhile conceded twice and lost in the same game for the first time 19 months.
Those figures give some idea of the turnaround effected in Gosford by Paul Okon’s team, but it was also the night their bright football of the first five rounds came together. To put it in simplistic football terms, they wanted it more than Sydney, but they also played better too.
The Mariners opening goal, when it came in the 19th minute, was a class act, the sort of one-touch football they have produced in patches this season but for once finished off with a clinical ending.
It was a ruthless exploitation of a moment of carelessness from Luke Wilkshire, stumbling on the ball on the touchline at halfway. Instantly Daniel De Silva touched the ball outside to Connor Pain who moved it first time back into the centre of the pitch, into the path of Asdrubal.
The Spanish striker spied Hoole racing beyond him and laid on a through ball that Hoole tucked away with delight.
It was a deserved lead, because the home side had torn into their assignment with absolute determination. Astrubal’s movement dragged the Sydney defence asunder, and only the final ball let the Mariners down as they came at Sydney.
The Sky Blues were mysteriously listless, their display epitomised by the black look on Graham Arnold’s face at halftime. Just before the hour Milos Ninkovic suffered a heavy blow to the head and was left in a haze, but in truth some of his teammates had looked similarly listless for much of the game.
Far too often by their standards Sydney sqauandered possession, unable to hold the ball in the face of the home side’s intensity. Captain Alex Brosque raged at the referee but it seemed a proxy for the way his team was playing.
Nor was that mood improved when the Mariners struck again, this time from the simplest possible setpiece. Hoole’s corner was met by the unmarked Jake McGing, and the header flew past Andrew Redmayne.
The fact that tempers flared more than once said a lot about each side’s state of mind, betraying frustration in Sydney’s ranks and a refusal to back down from the home side.
Alex Wilkinson was lucky to escape a red card for a clumsy tackle when already booked; Alain Baro was not so lucky and departed for a second caution with five minutes left.