It’s a happy New Year for Mariners

The Central Coast Mariners have outlasted the Newcastle Jets 1-0 in a tense F3 derby thanks to the incredible heroics from keeper Mark Birighitti.

Alou Kuol celebrates the winner for the Mariners Picture: Getty Images

The Central Coast Mariners have outlasted the Newcastle Jets 1-0 in a tense F3 derby thanks to the incredible heroics from keeper Mark Birighitti.

Birighitti stole the show in the second half with a pair of incredible saves to keep the home side’s slender lead intact.

The highlight was a stunning stop to deny Newcastle’s Kosta Petratos a certain goal early in the second stanza.

Steven Ugarkovic started a beautiful string of passes for the Jets before Ramy Najjarine did well to thread the ball through for Valentino Yuel.

Yuel then crossed back inside for Petratos but his shot was palmed away by Birighitti, who showed great reflexes to come up with the stop.

The Mariners keeper then tipped a curling strike from Angus Thurgate over the bar to save the home side again.

Both teams struggled at times to come up with the right option in attack but it was the home side that took a 1-0 lead into the break.

Alou Kuol produced the breakthrough with what turned out to be the winner for the Mariners in the 43rd minute.

It was a goal that summed up the home side’s night. It was not the most technical or well-executed play, but the determination and fight to be first to the ball when the opportunity presented itself was what separated the two teams.

Stefan Nigro’s pass landed in the box and Connor O’Toole failed to clean it up, with Kuol showing great desperation to get to the ball first and score.

The Jets had the early running and had a genuine scoring opportunity in the 10th minute when Petratos gave Thurgate a clear look at goal. However, his left foot strike sailed over the bar.

The injection of young gun Jaden Casella provided the Mariners with a much-needed boost as the home side started to gain the ascendancy in the latter stages of the first half.

Casella burst onto the ball in the 31st minute and linked with Matt Simon who had a chance to give Central Coast the lead but his shot was deflected for a corner.

The cross from Jack Clisby was dangerous and Casella again showed confidence with a nice strike which was deflected.

Another chance for the Mariners went begging when Oliver Bozanic’s free kick sailed over the bar.

With four shots to none between the 24th and 34th minute, the Mariners were dominating play but could not get the goal that would give them their first New Year’s Eve win since 2015.

That they did eventually through Kuol and it was a tough blow for the Jets, who rued a few big missed opportunities of their own in the later stages of the half.

Fox Sports