Central Coast Mariners in shock away win over Adelaide United

Central Coast were lambasted at the start of the season and were every critic’s choice to finish with the wooden spoon.

Central Coast’s Connor Pain celebrates scoring the winner in Adelaide yesterday.

They were lambasted and ridiculed at the start of the season and were every critic’s choice to finish with the wooden spoon.

Winless after the opening four rounds and with a rookie coach in charge, it seemed the pundits had it right about Central Coast.

But the Mariners have made a habit over the years of sticking up their thumbs at the detractors and so it proved again yesterday after they caused the upset of the season so far with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over defending champions Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium.

Connor Pain’s stunning second-half strike gave the visitors the lead on 57 minutes after Roy O’Donovan had equalised on 47 minutes and the yellow and navy then held on comfortably to record their first win of the season and end a losing streak of 15 straight games stretching back to round 17 last season.

It was also new coach Paul Okon’s first win as a senior coach and a wonderful reward for the way he has started to turn the club around.

The three points helped them climb from second bottom to eighth spot and kept the Reds firmly planted at the bottom of the table without a win in the opening five rounds.

Pain’s goal was his first for the club since signing from Melbourne Victory. He described it as the best of his career.

Picking the ball up on the left, he cut back inside then unleashed a wonderful, curling effort that slammed into the top right-hand corner of the net from about 20m.

For Adelaide, the result continues their poor run this season. Captain Eugene Galekovic had no complaints, either.

“We were OK in the first half, but OK isn’t good enough,” a deflated Galekovic said. “In the second half, we weren’t in it. Credit to the Mariners, they were outstanding. They deserved to win and we have a lot of soul-searching to do.”

The home side was well on top in the opening 15 minutes or so and probably should have had more to show for it than a one-goal lead at the break.

Central Coast couldn’t handle the speed and class of the Reds, especially right-back Tarek Elrich, who was given far too much space down the flank. He continually had the Mariners’ defence back-pedalling.

It was an Elrich cross that should have led to the opening goal on 10 minutes. He sent the ball to the far post and found the lively Jordan O’Doherty, who smartly headed the ball into the path of Ryan Kitto. Kitto looked certain to score from point-blank range but the Mariners’ defence somehow scrambled to block the shot.

Classy Spanish midfielder Isaias then produced a lovely piece of work in the 20th minute, sending a searching pass that found O’Doherty inside the box, but the young attacker’s first-time shot struck the right post and bounced clear.

The Mariners, intent on sitting back and hitting on the break, almost punished their opponents a minute later. They pounced on a defensive lapse with O’Donovan finding himself in space in the box and he should have scored. Instead, his shot from about 6m struck the right post and stayed out.

The home side eventually broke the deadlock five minutes later when they were awarded a penalty after Mariners defender Storm Roux was late with a tackle on Sergio Guardiola, who eventually got up off the floor to score from the spot.

Central Coast had some decent moments in the last 10 minutes of the half and forced a succession of corners.