League leaders Melbourne City were clinical in front of goal, defeating the Central Coast Mariners 3-1 in Gosford on Friday night.
The Mariners came into their first home game since January 24 on a high after beating the 2nd place Wellington Phoenix 2-1 in blustery conditions last week.
Early pressure from the home side created chances for both Peta Trimis and Avaani Prakash within the first quarter of an hour, but neither was able to find the back of the net.
Both teams battled hard in the midfield and traded chances in the final 15 minutes of the half, eventually heading into the break with the score unchanged at 0-0.
Just seven minutes into the second half, Melbourne City’s Bryleeh Henry broke the deadlock, finishing off a smooth counter-attacking move, placing a low Holly McNamara cross into the far right corner, just out of Annalee Grove’s reach.
Peta Trimis lined up a free kick a minute later but was unable to even the tie as her attempt whistled narrowly wide of the left-hand post, almost recreating her wonderstrike against Wellington five days ago.
An impactful triple substitution for Central Coast brought more pressure from the Mariners until a ferocious free kick from City’s Leticia McKenna crashed into the crossbar, just inches away from putting Melbourne ahead.
The visitors doubled their lead shortly after however, with centre-back Rebekah Stott tidily putting away a cut-back from her defensive partner Taylor Otto in the 68th minute.
Melbourne City struck again just six minutes later through Aideen Keane, who buried a left-footed shot hard into the far bottom-right corner after creating space with some elusive footwork in the box.
The Mariners fighting spirit was on display at Polytec Stadium as the industrious Izzy Gomez expertly looped a header into the City net in the 77th minute after a well-directed free kick from deep in the Mariners half was headed back across the six-yard box by Elizabeth Barwick-Grey.
Despite an end-to-end final quarter of an hour, neither team was able to score again as Melbourne City defended their lead, and maintain their position at the top of the ladder for another week.
Now in sixth, with Brisbane Roar and Perth Glory still to play this weekend, the Central Coast Mariners won’t play again until March 21.
They travel to Perth to take on the Glory and will look to cement a spot in the top six with just four rounds remaining in the regular season.
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