Central Coast Mariners 1 (Ferreira 67’) Western Sydney Wanderers 2 (Bridge 11’ & Santalab 88’)
The Run Down
A 10-man Central Coast Mariners have conceded a heartbreaking goal to fall 2-1 at the hands of Western Sydney Wanderers. Fabio Ferreira pulled one back for the home side, kick-started by some Luis Garcia class. The 37-year-old played a perfect through ball to Mitch Austin that allowed the winger to send in a dangerous cross, finished by Ferreira.
The scene was set for Liverpool Legend, Luis Garcia to help pull the game back when he was deployed by Tony Walmsley in the 59th minute, the Spaniard showed some serious signs of quality when he was on the pitch which was much to the excitement of the 13 000 strong crowd.
Full focus turns to Hyundai A-League round 17 that will see the Mariners fly to New Zealand to face Wellington Phoenix in Christchurch.
Goals
11’ BRIDGE GOAL: After an evenly contested and feisty first 10 minutes, a defensive lapse resulted in an opening goal to Western Sydney. Storm Roux attempted to back pass, his ball pulled up short and Bridge poked home with ease.
67’ FERREIRA GOAL: Who else but Luis Garcia to substitute on and make an instant impact. With class, our new number 10 threaded the needle for Austin on the left wing. Austin delivered a perfect ball and Ferreira was on hand to tap home.
88’ SANTALAB GOAL: After going a man down when Nick Montgomery was shown red, it was always going to be an uphill battle to withstand an attack from the league leaders. Santalab was the man who pounced on a crucial lapse in defence to seal three points
Walmsley’s Words
“With the right sort of ball speed from one side of the pitch to the other we knew we would get our runners in and that proved to be the case.”
“The red card obviously changed the game; it made life difficult for us but it’s the fourth game we’ve ended with 10 men and it’s not something I’m happy about.”
“I thought we were in the ascendency in the second half, they couldn’t get the ball off us and we were creating chances so with a little bit more quality on a couple of occasions we could have grabbed something.”
“(Garcia) The weight of pass to put Mitch Austin through was superb and we scored from it so if he can have that sort of impact on the times he comes on then we are on a winner because we’ve got players who make good runs and we need someone to find them and he can certainly do that.”
“He’s been out of the game for a while so it’s going to take him a few weeks to get up to a level where he thinks he can go for a good hour or more.”
“If you turn over the ball cheaply in the back third they’re likely to get a shot on target, credit to Wanderers who capitalised on two mistakes.”
Central Coast Mariners: Izzo (gk), Roux, Ascroft, Poscoliero, Neill, L. Rose, Montgomery, Stella (Garcia 59’), Ferreira, Austin (McGing 87’), Fletcher
Western Sydney Wanderers: Redmayne (gk), Neville, Alberto, Aspropotamitis, Jamieson, Andreu, Dimas (Baccus 87’), Nichols, Castelen (Mebrahtu), Vidosic (Santalab 73’), Bridge
Scorers: Bridge 11’, Ferreira 67’ & Santalab 88’
Red Cards: Montgomery 79’
Yellow Cards: Poscoliero 38’, Dimas 54’, Ascroft 76’, Austin 81’
Attendance: 13,105 @ Central Coast Stadium
