The Central Coast Mariners have bounced back from last Saturday’s heartbreaking draw against the Melbourne Victory in style this evening – trouncing the visiting Perth Glory 4-1 at Bluetongue Stadium.
The Central Coast Mariners have bounced back from last Saturday-s heartbreaking draw against the Melbourne Victory in style this evening – trouncing the visiting Perth Glory 4-1 at Bluetongue Stadium.
Sasho Petrovski, Mile Jedinak, Adrian Caceres and Matthew Osman each found the back of the net for the yellow and navy over ninety convincing minutes where the home side underlined the quality that had been so evident in their play in previous weeks.
In response, Perth-s Olympic Games starlet Nikita Rukavytsya netted a second half goal from close range that turned out to be a mere consolation for the Glory, who have still yet to take a Hyundai A-League point from Bluetongue Stadium in the Hyundai A-League.
The Mariners- expert display was somewhat soured by the early substitution of guest player and goalkeeper Mark Bosnich, who limped from the Bluetongue Stadium turf after just seven minutes with a hamstring injury – the full extent of which will be established in the coming days.
Despite this early setback, the Mariners were irresistible in posting four past their opponents to extend their unbeaten run to four matches and move to within two points of Hyundai A-League leaders Sydney FC and the Melbourne Victory.
“Perth were reasonably well in the game until Sasho scored the first goal and from then on we just picked up the tempo and deservedly got three goals,” said Mariners Football Manager Lawrie McKinna after the match.
“We spoke before the game about how good a team we were, I believe it, but we all just need to believe that we-re a good team.
“This week we said to keep doing what we were doing, concentrate and we-ll win the game and we did that tonight.”
It was a first half master class from the Mariners that ultimately set the platform for the yellow and navy-s first three points at their bay side home for season four.
Bosnich-s early withdrawal threatened to curtail the Mariners- momentum, though Petrovski-s poachers special on nine minutes ensured that the Mariners extinguished Perth-s early resolve.
Petrovski showed great composure in latching onto Caceres- sublime through ball to firstly shoot past Glory ‘keeper Jason Petkovic and then steer the rebound off the post and into an empty net.
Twenty minutes further on, Qantas Socceroo Jedinak etched his name onto the score sheet for the second time this season from a second barely fathomable free kick.
Some twenty metres from goal, Jedinak delicately lobbed his right footed effort over the Perth wall and into the top corner of the goal – leaving Petkovic helpless to prevent what may well be one of the goals of the Hyundai A-League season.
Caceres completed one of the Mariners- more convincing first half performances in recent memory just shy of the break when virtually waltzing through a static Glory backline and precisely slotting his first goal in Mariners colours past Petkovic via the right hand upright.
Rukavytsya-s hard earned strike shortly after the resumption saw the Glory enjoy a slight ascendency in the second half before Osman well and truly killed the chances of the resurgent visitors with another strike for the highlights reels courtesy of a specialist finish after a neat passing exchange with striker Matt Simon.
Goal scorer Jedinak joined Bosnich on the treatment table early in the second half after a harsh head clash with midfield counterpart James Robinson, but several stitches aside, the midfield ace is not expected to be sidelined for next Friday-s trip to Adelaide.
“Now we-re looking forward to going to Adelaide,” said McKinna.
“If we get a result down there we-re sitting well after the first round and considering the amount of senior players we-ve had missing, the boys that we have had have done very well for the club.”
The Mariners- Hyundai A-League 2008/09 campaign continues at the Hindmarsh Stadium home of AFC Champions League semi finalists Adelaide United on Friday, 3 October. Kick off is at 8pm AEST.
The Mariners are next at Bluetongue Stadium on Sunday, 19 October, when they host the Wellington Phoenix in Round 8. Kick off is at 3pm.
Tickets for this match are on sale from Ticketek outlets, from the Ticketek website – www.ticketek.com.au, or via phone on 132 849.
Mariners Memberships for the Hyundai A-League 2008/09 season are now on sale at www.ccmariners.com.au.
Match Details
Central Coast Mariners 40. Mark Bosnich (gk) (30. Andrew Redmayne (gk) 6-), 4. Pedj Bojic, 5. Bradley Porter, 7. John Hutchinson, 10. Adrian Caceres, 16. Nigel Boogaard, 17. Matthew Osman, 18. Alex Wilkinson, 19. Matt Simon, 22. Sasho Petrovski (11. Dylan Macallister 74-), 23. Mile Jedinak (15. Andrew Clark 58-)
Unused Subs 13. Paul O-Grady
Yellow Cards Simon 20-, Jedinak 39-, Petrovski 58-, Bojic 79-
Red Cards None
Goals Petrovski 9-, Jedinak 29-, Caceres 41-, Osman 64-
Perth Glory 1. Jason Petkovic (gk), 2. Nikolai Topor-Stanley, 3. David Tarka (19. Naum Sekulovski 46-), 4. Jamie Coyne, 5. Jamie Harnwell, 8. James Robinson, 11. Scott Bulloch, 13. Nikita Rukavytsya (9. Adrian Trinidad 74-), 14. Eugene Dadi, 16. Adriano Pellegrino, 22. Wayne Srhoj
Unused Subs 20. Frank Juric (gk), 27. Stuart McLaren
Yellow Cards Tarka 38-, Trinidad 90-+2
Red Cards None
Goals Rukavytsya 63-
Referee Mark Shield
Crowd 8,016
