Central Coast Mariners suffered a disappointing 4-1 defeat away to Perth Glory on Saturday, despite enjoying plenty of positive periods of play against Kenny Lowe’s Hyundai A-League table-toppers.
Though Phil Moss’s men began the game brightly and indeed dominated the ladder leading Glory at nib Stadium for the first third of the match, the yellow and navy were made to pay for not turning their dominance in possession in the first half hour of the game into goals, as just after the 30 minute mark Perth put two beyond Liam Reddy.
In the 33rd minute Chris Harold found the back of the net from close range following Sidnei Sciola’s precise pass, and just two minutes later some sloppy defending enabled the prolific Andy Keogh to double Glory’s advantage.
Matt Simon reduced the arrears for Central Coast shortly after the break with a clinical finish following good lead up play – the striker scoring in his second straight match.
But while Simon’s 49th minute goal certainly got the Mariners back in the game, Glory showed why they’re setting the pace atop the Hyundai A-League standings later in the round 11 clash by striking the Mariners with two killer blows.
In the 71st minute young gun Danny De Silva fired past Reddy from outside the area with a stunning volley to make the score 3-1.
Then, with just over ten minutes of regulation time remaining the purple-whites broke down the field with purpose and rounded out the scoring through Harold who sent a sublime shot on the angle into the net.
Following the game Central Coast Mariners boss Phil Moss bemoaned the cheap goals that his team conceded against the Glory, and said that his men must begin to make more of their opportunities in the final third.
“We definitely started the game well and created a number of opportunities in the opening half hour,” Moss said. “‘Vuka’ (Danny Vukovic) pulled off a couple of good saves, and we were largely controlling the play.”
“But I will not and cannot accept the cheap goals that we are giving away. Twice in a couple of minutes before half time we conceded because of a lack of concentration, and that obviously put us on the back foot. We must take responsibility individually and collectively for this and address it.”
“Matt Simon showed great killer instinct just after the break, something we need more of from all our players, and when we got back to 2-1 I felt that we could go on with it and get something out of the game. But again later in the half we lost concentration and handed Perth opportunities to score, which to their credit they made the most of.”
“Naturally we’re very disappointed with the result, but given the possession we had plus some of our combinations with the ball going forward I don’t think the final score accurately reflected the contest,” Moss concluded.
Central Coast Mariners will finally be back on their home ground at Gosford’s Central Coast Stadium when it hosts Brisbane Roar in Hyundai A-League round 12 action on Saturday 27 December. Kick-off against Roar is at 5:00pm, with tickets available from Ticketek.
Perth Glory 4 (Harold 33’, 78’, Keogh 35’, De Silva 71’)
Central Coast Mariners 1 (Simon 49’)
nib Stadium, Perth
Attendance: 9,660
Referee: Peter Green
Central Coast Mariners FC: 2. Storm ROUX, 3. Josh ROSE, 5. Zac ANDERSON, 7. John HUTCHINSON (C), 10. Anthony CACERES, 11. Nick FITZGERALD, 12. Liam REDDY (Gk), 17. Richard VERNES (9. Mitchell DUKE 54’), 18. Glen TRIFIRO (26. KIM Seung-yong 70’), 19. Matt SIMON, 21. Michael NEILL (15. Matt SIM 39’)
Substitutes not used: 1. Matt NASH (Gk), 25. Eddy BOSNAR
Coach: Phil Moss
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
Perth Glory FC: 1. Danny VUKOVIC (Gk), 5. Rostyn GRIFFITHS (3. Brandon O’NEILL), 6. Dino DJULBIC, 8. Ruben Zadkovich, 9. Andy KEOGH, 10. Nebojša MARINKOVIC, 11. Richard GARCIA, 14. Chris HAROLD (15. Jamie MACLAREN), 16. Sidnei SCIOLA (20. Danny DE SILVA 57’), 21. Scott JAMIESON, 23. Michael THWAITE
Substitute not used: 24. Matthew DAVIES, 30. Jordan THURTELL
Coach: Kenny Lowe
Yellow cards: Zadkovich
Red cards: Nil
