After an impressive first half that saw the Central Coast Mariners take a 2-0 lead, a second half red card resulted in the Mariners conceding three goals in the second half to fall 3-2 to Wellington away from home.
Wellington Phoenix 3 (Krishna 47’ & 55’, Williams 65’) Central Coast Mariners 2 (Simon 8’ & Hoole 21’)
The run down
The Central Coast Mariners came out of the sheds flying in the first half and found themselves in the lead after just eight minutes. After being fouled from a corner, Simon won and converted his own penalty to make it 1-0.
RECAP | Matty Simon doesn’t miss from there ?? Cool, calm and collected captain! ? @FOXFOOTBALL #WELvCCM #CCMFC #ALeague pic.twitter.com/EBoMRufcif
— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) January 12, 2019
Special mentions must go to Tom Hiariej and Jacob Melling who controlled the midfield in the opening 45 and it was the hustle of Melling that saw the Mariners double their lead. His interception and pass in the 20th minute set Hoole goal bound. Hoole did well to compose himself and put his side 2-0 up.
As the whistle blew for half time, the Mariners hit the sheds with a deserved lead.
But the fantastic work of the first half was almost immediately undone in the second half when a Kye Rowles challenge saw him sent from the field. The Mariners would then play the entire second half with 10 men after Krishna converted the spot kick.
Less than 10 minutes later, a challenge by Melling on Krishna was also deemed to be a foul. Krishna slotted home his second penalty of the game to make it 2-2.
Then, in the 58th minute, it was 3-2 to Phoenix when the ball fell to David Williams who finished from close range.
With 30 minutes to play, the Mariners weren’t going down without a fight away from home and pushed hard for an equaliser. In the 86th minute Jordan Murray looked like he’d found the back of the net to make it 3-3 but was ruled to be off-side.
The Mariners now face back-to-back home games to earn redemption where they host Melbourne City on Wednesday evening and Brisbane Roar on Sunday.
RECAP | It starts with a great tackle and through ball by @melling17 to release Hoole. Still with plenty to do, Hoole charges on, steadies himself and finds the back of the net! ?? ? @FOXFOOTBALL #WELvCCM #CCMFC #ALeague pic.twitter.com/wFmIvnW09M
— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) January 12, 2019
Goals
8’ SIMON PENALTY (0-1): After winning the penalty from a corner, Simon stepped up to the spot and fired home to open the scoring.
21’ HOOLE GOAL (0-2): A confident opening 20 minutes was capitalised when Melling won possession in the middle of the park. In one swift moved he swivelled and threaded the through ball to Hoole. Still with plenty to do, Hoole beat two defenders and fired home to double the lead.
47’ KRISHNA PENALTY (1-2): One minute into the second half Krishna was brought down in the box. He converted his own penalty to put the Phoenix back in the hunt.
58’ KRISHNA PENALTY (2-2): After winning another penalty, Krishna shot the same way, with more power to equalise from the spot.
65’ WILLIAMS GOAL (3-2): Krishna lost control at the top of the box, the ball fell to Williams who fired into the top of the net, giving Kennedy no chance to make a save.
Mulvey in the media
“It’s gut wrenching. It’s a very upset dressing room. If you peel back the fact that it’s another loss and you look at the performance, we were great in the first half, they didn’t get a kick and we took them apart.
“Games change on moments. We have banged on all week about the forward runs of Krishna and we didn’t get that right. It’s a tough one to swallow. We will be OK, we just need a couple of extra bodies to help us for the rest of the season.
“It was a difficult position because we started three lads who hadn’t played much football in Tom Hiariej, Tommy Oar & Jonathan Aspropotamitis. After Kye is sent off, we need to look at which one of those is going to last. So, we dropped Melling back in there which meant Hiariej needed to be sacrificed. He played a top game up until then.
“That performance in the first half was a carry on from our first half against Sydney last week. After that, it was a different story.
“We thought we had a deserved equaliser via Jordan Murray. Jordan’s offside by a pimple? How the linesman can give that in the first place is a question. They should let it play, then let the VAR have a look at it. My understanding is, because he flagged, because it was a pimple either way it can’t be overturned. That guy is an eagle-eyed linesman if he gets that right. The fans need to see what’s going on [more than one camera angle]. If they show me the angle where he’s offside, I’ll hold my hands up, but it seems to be a bit of a secret.
“We’re gutted, we want to win, we need to win and it will give us so much energy. There was no energy missing tonight. There are still quite a few games left and we will pick up quite a few points, don’t you worry about that.
“I don’t want to single out too many people but I’m glad you’ve asked about them [Aspropotamitis, Oar & Hiariej]. We’ve put him [Aspropotamitis] in underdone, he was a rock tonight, he was excellent. Him and Kye, two 20 year olds marshalling the defence against a very experienced attack. They didn’t get a kick in the first half and I’m very proud of that. Tommy Oar, you could see in his performance and what we’ve missed and you could see glimpses from Tom Hiariej that we’ve missed who’s been out for a number of weeks. I’m enjoying seeing these guys back but now we ask them to go again on Wednesday, then again on Sunday. If we can add some depth to the squad we will be fine,” Mulvey said.
Wellington Phoenix FC: 1.Filip KURTO (gk), 8.Mitch NICHOLS (7.Cillian SHERIDAN 46’), 11.David WILLIAMS, 13.Liberato CACACE, 15.Michal KOPZCYNSKI (6.Dylan FOX 92’), 16.Louis FENTON, 18.Sarpreet SINGH (23.Max BURGESS 85’), 19.Tom DOYLE, 21.Roy KRISHNA, 22.Andrew DURANTE (c), 27.Steven TAYLOR
Substitutes not used: 20.Oliver SAIL (gk), 5.Ryan LOWRY
Yellow cards: Cacace 88’
Central Coast Mariners: 1.Ben KENNEDY (GK), 2.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS, 15. Kye ROWLES, 18. Matthew MILLAR, 4. Jake McGING, 6.Tom HIARIEJ (3.Jack CLISBY 62’), 7.Andrew HOOLE (25. Jordan MURRAY 75’), 10.Tommy OAR, 11. Connor PAIN, 19. Matthew SIMON (c), 22. Jacob MELLING (8. Michael McGLINCHEY 81’)
Substitutes not used: 12. Adam PEARCE (GK) & 23.Mario SHABOW
Yellow cards: Aspropotamitis 19’, Hoole 46’, Clisby 81’
Saturday, 12 January 2019
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Wellington Phoenix v Central Coast Mariners
