Melbourne City’s Jamie Maclaren leads golden boot with hat-trick at Mariners

Melbourne City marksman Jamie Maclaren scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 win over Central Coast in Gosford.

Melbourne City’s Craig Noone tries his look with an acrobatic volley against Central Coast Mariners at Gosford. Picture: AAP

Melbourne City marksman Jamie Maclaren scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 away win over Central Coast in the first A-League match played behind closed doors.

The teams did their best to compensate for the lack of fan-generated atmosphere on Friday evening, scoring three goals in the first 10 minutes of the game at Gosford, which started with the thermometer showing 34C.

Watch every Hyundai A-League game LIVE & On-Demand on KAYO. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >

Maclaren’s hat-trick lifts him to 18 goals for the season and above Sydney FC star Adam Le Fondre into first place in the battle for the golden boot.

The win moves second-placed City, who are undefeated in their past four, to within seven points of leaders Sydney, who have three games in hand. The last-placed Mariners slumped to a 10th-straight loss.

Jordan Murray put the home side ahead inside the first two minutes, after running onto a Jack Clisby through ball, but Maclaren equalised three minutes later after he was able to get in behind the home defence.

Melbourne City fan William Purssey watches his team in action from outside Central Coast Stadium in the first A-League game played behind closed doors. Picture: AAP

The early goal rush continued with Markel Susaeta heading in at the far post from a Craig Noone cross to give City the lead.

The game cooled down after the hot start but it took just three minutes of the second half for Maclaren to toe home from close range to make it 3-1.

Murray gave the Mariners some hope when he headed in a Chris Harold cross in the 69th minute to record his first A-League brace.

But Maclaren restored City’s two-goal cushion five minutes later when he thumped the ball home after a shot from Nathaniel Atkinson was deflected into his path.

Despite the locked gates, one determined Melbourne City fan did manage to get some distant glimpses of his heroes in action. With the public denied access to the ground because of FFA rules imposed due to the coronavirus, only essential staff witnessed the game at Central Coast Stadium.

That didn’t stop City fan William Purssey standing outside the railings at the southern end, shouting his support for his team despite the restricted view, while draping his City scarf over the gate.

Purssey said he had booked the trip to Gosford a few months ago.

“I’ve never been to Gosford, so I’ve lost my Gosford virginity, I’ve always wanted to come here,” Purssey said.

“With the coronavirus I was like ‘do I cancel it?’ but I’m here for four nights so it’s like ‘why not?’”

Asked what his family and friends thought of what he was doing, Purssey said “a bit crazy, I guess”.

“There’s about 50 different types of stupidity I’ve been called.”

AAP