The Central Coast Mariners have cruised past the Newcastle Jets in the 41st #F3Derby where Nick Montgomery & Fabio Ferreira featured on the scoresheet at Central Coast Stadium in the Yellow & Navy’s 2-0 win.
Central Coast Mariners 2 (Montgomery 31’, Ferreira 51’) Newcastle Jets 0
The Run Down
The crucial three points sees the Mariners leap frog the Jets and Adelaide United on the ladder, to set up an intriguing last round of football where the Mariners currently sit eighth.
After an end-to-end start to the final #F3Derby of the 2016/17 Hyundai A-League season, it was captain Nick Montgomery who set the game alight, when he hit a sizzling strike into the bottom corner from outside the penalty area to give his side the lead.
The Mariners made it difficult for the Jets to get into the game for most parts of the first half, holding possession for long periods of time, with the Jets only creating half chances with arial threat Harrison Sawyer. Harry Ascroft and Liam Rose were alert to the danger and kept the Jets at bay, holding them scoreless for the fourth game in a row.
The Mariners doubled their lead early in the second half after Ferreira finished off a counter attacking play which saw the Mariners travel the length of the field.
Connor Pain was rightly awarded man of the match honours, leaving the Jets right side in a spin, beating his man more than once, having his hand in a number of Mariners’ opportunities. The only thing missing from his game tonight was a goal which he came close to on multiple occasions.
Second half subsitutes Andrew Hoole and Labinot Haliti gave the Jets some positivity in the second half but the Mariners defence and goalkeeper Paul Izzo made some smart interceptions right as the Jets looked dangerous.
It was a well earned clean sheet for Izzo and the young Mariners back four.
Paul Okon and his men now quickly shift their focus to next weekend’s important last round fixture match against Melbourne Victory on Good Friday at AAMI.
Goals
1-0: Nick Montgomery 31’
The Mariners hit the lead just after the half an hour mark when a lay off from Fabio Ferreira met the oncoming Nick Montgomery after some very impressive build up play from the Yellow & Navy. Montgomery hit the ball first time from outside the area and sent it rocketing into the bottom corner, leaving Jets custodian Jack Duncan with no chance.
2-0: Fabio Ferreira 51’
The Mariners doubled their lead early on in the second half when the Mariners took possession inside their own half and set off on a counter attack. Pain took the space and squared the ball to the Portuguese flyer. Ferreira’s finsh was just as impressive, chipping the diving Duncan to send the ball into an empty net.
Paolo in the press
“Within us, there’s always been belief,” Okon said. “Tonight was an #F3Derby and regardless of our position on the ladder we wanted to win, and I think the response from the players after last Sunday’s disappointing result where we felt for 60 odd minutes we were really good value at Suncorp against the Roar, which most teams haven’t managed to do for a long time.
“We wanted a bit of momentum coming into this game because we knew how important it was. This week’s been a tough week, recovering and understanding the importance of what tonight’s win means for this club and for our fans. I’m delighted for the effort that everyone has put in so far this season, but of course, that’s the icing on the cake with this victory this evening.
“If we were seventh and certain to avoid the spoon, our approach would’ve been no different. Our football club has bought into it and its something we’ve accepted and at certain moments during this season we haven’t managed as well as what we had hoped for and we didn’t pick up enough points.
“We worked hard during the week and I thought what we worked on and spoke about before the game we executed perfectly, and we probably could’ve scored a few more.
“We’ve got six wins, double the amount we had last year so the results have been better and I certainly think the performances have been also.
“We’ve competed with the best teams and at certain moments of games this season it just hasn’t gone our way for whatever reason and we do feel we certainly aren’t a team that deserved to be in tenth position.
There’s a lot to look forward to beyond this season and I think it was important for our fans tonight in our last home game of the season against our local rivals to show what it meant to the players and what that jersey means.
“Regardless of this little storm that came at the end where everyone got a bit wet, I don’t think anyone will mind it with three points in the bag against the Jets.
“Its a part of the season that’s not pleasant for anyone, not for players, not for coaches that need to make decisions on roster spots for the following season. You need to deal with it and if I think back to September when we started everyone was told they were going to be given an opportunity and tonight was again another opportunity. We will look at that and moving forward we will make the decisions necessary for this football club to be next season higher up the ladder,” Okon said.
Central Coast Mariners: 20.Paul IZZO (gk), 2.Storm ROUX, 5.Harry ASCROFT, 16.Liam ROSE, 3.Scott GALLOWAY, 8.Nick MONTGOMERY (c), 14.Adam BERRY, 7.Fabio FERREIRA (21.Michael NEILL 88’, 13.Kwabena APPIAH (12.Trent BUHAGIAR 67’), 11.Connor PAIN (17.Josh BUNGHAM 84’), 9.Roy O’DONOVAN
Substitutes not used: 1.Ivan NECEVSKI (gk), 26.Steve WHYTE
Newcastle Jets: 20.Jack DUNCAN(gk), 2.Daniel MULLEN, 3,Jason HOFFMAN, 4.Nigel BOOGAARD, 6.Stven UGARKOVIC, 8.Mateo POLJAK (5.Benjamon KANTAROVSKI 67’), 12.Harrison SAWYER (11.Labinot HALITI 54’), 15.Andrew NABBOUT, 16.Nicholas COWBURN (7.Andrew HOOLE 54’), 19.Morten NORDSTRAND, 22.Lachlan JACKSON
Subtitutes not used: 50.Tomislav ARCABA, 13.Ivan VUJICA
Yellow cards: Daniel Mullen 39’, Nigel Boogaard 75’, Andrew Hoole 87’
Sunday 9 April, 2017
Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Central Coast Mariners vs. Newcastle Jets
Attendance: 8073
Referee: Stephen Lucas
