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Doka and Duarte on target but Mariners fall just short in Shanghai

Central Coast Mariners fell to a narrow 3-2 defeat against Chinese Super League giants Shanghai Port in the AFC Champions League Elite on Tuesday evening in China.

A spirited display from Mark Jackson’s side could have earned at least a point against the star-studded CSL side on another day. The Mariners applied sustained periods of pressure in either half in an evenly contested match.

Both sides were looking for their first win in the competition and the home side got the dream start as Li Ang headed in after less than two minutes from Oscar’s corner.

Wu Lei doubled the Chinese Champions’ advantage before half time, but a rocket from Mikael Doka got one back for the Mariners on the hour mark.

With the Mariners pushing for an equaliser, the home side struck on the break to make it 3-1, Oscar laying the ball off for Matias Vargas who stylishly curled home from the edge of the box.

We didn’t go down without a fight however, substitute Nico Duarte made it 3-2 with a clinical finish in the 93rd minute and the Mariners threw everyone, including Dylan Peraic-Cullen, forward for two late corners but we couldn’t find the equaliser that our valiant performance deserved.

Line-Up

Jacko named an unchanged starting eleven from the side that began our Isuzu UTE A-League campaign with a goalless draw against Melbourne Victory on Friday night.

18-year-old Peraic-Cullen made his AFC Champions League Elite debut, keeping his place in goal after a clean sheet on his A-League debut. Bradley Tapp continued alongside skipper Brian Kaltak at centre-back.

There was another huge moment in the blossoming career of 16-year-old Haine Eames, who came on for his AFC Champions League Elite debut, one of four Academy graduates to be introduced off the bench by Mark Jackson in the second half.

Starting XI: Peraic-Cullen (GK), Kaltak (C), McCalmont, Kuol, Doka, Feijao, Mauragis, Roux, Steele, Tapp, Edmondson.

Substitutions:
46′ ON: Brandtman OFF: Feijao
70′ ON: Duarte OFF: Kuol
79′ ON: Eames OFF: Steele
88′ ON: Ngor, Kuzevski OFF: Roux, Edmondson

Unused subs: Warshawsky (GK), Herrington, Wilson, Paull

First Half

The hosts got their dream start with a goal inside the opening two minutes, Li Ang heading in after Oscar’s corner was flicked on by Wu Lei.

It was a positive response though from the Mariners who had their fair share of chances in the first half. Alfie McCalmont forced Junling Yan into his first save of the night, with a decent effort from a tight angle on 13 minutes.

On the half hour mark, Peraic-Cullen made his best save of the night, diving to his right to save Wu Lei’s powerful strike. The Mariners then broke down the other end but Alou Kuol couldn’t quite provide the finishing touch after a strong run.

The Mariners were enjoying their brightest spell of the half, Kuol had another half chance but couldn’t get a touch on Lucas Mauragis’ curling pass befofe our best chance of the half came on 37 minutes as Yan made a strong save to deny Doka’s low strike.

The hosts were clinical at the other end though and got their second goal on 41 minutes, Wu Lei scoring his 32nd goal in all competitions this season from close range to send Shanghai Port into half time with a 2-0 advantage.

Second half

The second half started with the Mariners on top, Storm Roux almost got himself a rare goal as he saw one effort blocked off the line and one fly just over the crossbar moments later.

Our early second-half dominance paid off as we got a goal back on the hour mark, Doka rifling in his second ACLE goal in three matches from 25 yards to get us back in the game.

Mauragis tried his luck from a similar position on 72 minutes but saw his effort saved by Yan, before Vargas struck at the other end to restore Shanghai Port’s two-goal advantage.

Still the Mariners refused to lie down, Duarte latching onto Tapp’s pass and firing home to make it 3-2 deep into added time but we couldn’t quite force a late equaliser.

Next up:

There were plenty of positives for Jacko and the squad to take, as we turn our attention back to A-League action.

After returning from China, the squad are immediately back on their travels, this time to South Australia as we visit Coopers Stadium on Saturday evening for Adelaide United’s first Isuzu UTE A-League fixture of the season.

Following that, we are back at Our Paradise on November 2nd for this season’s first Double Header. A huge afternoon of football sees our Ninja A-League team kick off their season against reigning Champions Sydney FC, followed by our Isuzu UTE A-League clash with Perth Glory.

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