Despite an opening goal in the third minute of play by Matt Millar and a late flurry of chances to the home team, the Central Coast Mariners have been forced to settle for a draw with Brisbane Roar at Central Coast Stadium.
Central Coast Mariners 1 (Millar 3’) Brisbane Roar 1 (De Vere 45’)
The run down
Central Coast Mariners hosted Brisbane Roar in a match that could have seen the Mariners leapfrog Brisbane on the A-League ladder.
The Mariners continued where they left off after Wednesday’s win and immediately made Brisbane pay after a defensive error led to Matt Millar scoring his first goal in Yellow and Navy. The early goal swayed the momentum in the Mariners favour. The chances kept coming for the home side who were unlucky not to double their lead.
RECAP | We’re off to a flyer against Brisbane. Matty Millar pokes it into the bottom corner, to open the scoring! ? @FOXFOOTBALL #CCMFC #CCMvBRI #ALeague pic.twitter.com/rr7rokyVyb
— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) January 20, 2019
Brisbane struggled to keep possession and couldn’t create a chance that tested Ben Kennedy. The game started to open up in the latter stages of the half and Brisbane found themselves with an equaliser from a set piece on the stroke of half time.
It was a battle for possession after the break as both sides fought to get a foot hold. Brisbane were quick out of the blocks and troubled the Mariners in the first 10 minutes. The Yellow and Navy clicked into gear and started to trouble the Roar’s defence, the first was a vicious strike from Mario Shabow that forced Jamie Young into his first, of a number of impressive saves.
Momentum was again in the Mariners’ favour and Shabow continued to impress as another one of his shots tested the Roar keeper. Matt Millar continued to do what he does best, charging down the right wing, his run in the 68th minute spurred three chances in quick succession. Two close range shots by Millar and Pain were well saved by Young, then a third long range laser beam from Jacob Melling was sensationally denied by a diving Young.
Tensions started to boil over in the late stages of the match as both sides were determined to grab the winner. Mariners were on the front food for majority of the half but couldn’t make any of their chances count as the Roar’s defence stood strong.
Tonight, both teams are wearing orange armbands in support of imprisoned footballer, Hakeem al-Araibi. In the fifth minute of play #CCMFC fans are encouraged to stand and applaud to help #SaveHakeem. pic.twitter.com/zLck4KYnp7
— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) January 20, 2019
The Mariners kept on pushing to find the winner and continued to throw numbers upfield which created a flurry of chances. However, neither side could find the decisive goal to win the game and the match ended as a draw.
Full focus for the Mariners quickly changes to another short turnaround, this time it’s an all-important #F3Derby on Wednesday night.
GOALS:
MILLAR GOAL (1-0): A defensive error by O’Toole saw Murray pick up the loose ball and his pass found Millar who slotted his shot pass the helpless Young.
DE VERE GOAL (1-1): A nice delivery from Bautheac from the corner was headed in at the back post by Luke Devere.
Mulvey in the media
“On the balance of play it should’ve been a 1-0 win. We conceded from another set piece, again. We did it against the Jets and we did it the other day against Melbourne City, we have to get that right. I said it before, it was a herculean effort from all the players, January is a very busy schedule for travelling, playing, training and recovery. I thought we did enough to win today and we should’ve won the game. They had very little threat, Taggart is a very good player and I thought we kept him quiet for the majority. Henrique and Eric were good players. We wanted to win that game and we had the opportunity too.
“People took responsibility and maybe made the wrong decision and played the ball back. I’ve said to the lads a fantastic effort again, we backed up again and we had a go and I’m proud of them but we’re getting to that stage now that we are hungry for wins. We need to back up for Wednesday and the weekend, two games coming up. we can’t be feeling sorry for ourselves I said at half time we have to go out and boss this second half and I thought we did. I tried to make the substitutions to full effect, nearly but not quite.
Huge respect for the players of @CCMariners, who tonight showed their solidarity for Hakeem Al-Araibi by wearing orange armbands, and to the club's supporters for clapping in support during the 5th minute#SaveHakeem pic.twitter.com/CoIEsgXP2H
— The PFA (@thepfa) January 20, 2019
“We’ve copped an injury tonight to Jake McGing and he is one of the fittest in the squad he never misses a day. It [short turnaround] happens in many parts of the world. The players had a good go tonight and I’m proud.”
“The referee didn’t give it [hand ball in the box], someone in the VAR said have a look at it and the referee didn’t overrule himself. I’ve got an issue with the VAR from a perspective from Wellington the other week where Jordan Murray scored a good goal in my opinion and then you find out the camera in New Zealand that’s meant to be on the 18-yard box isn’t there. With that you’re just guessing. It’s a difficult task, we have a lot of experts in the Fox commentary studio and I’m sure they will look at it and debate it.
“The reason Aiden O’Neill was in the backline was because ‘Aspro’ has just come back from a nine month lay off as you know. The science tells me in a period of eight days if he suddenly does what the rest of the guys do who haven’t had nine months off, he’s in significant chance to re-injure himself. That’s why we took him out and Aiden did a fantastic job.
“He’s [McGing] got a leg injury, but we don’t know the severity. He’s going to be checked tomorrow for an MRI,” Mulvey said.
Central Coast Mariners: 1. Ben KENNEDY (GK), 4. Jake MCGING (3. Jack CLISBY 90’), 6. Tom HIARIEJ (8. Michael MCGLINCHEY 76’), 11. Connor PAIN, 13. Aiden O’NEILL, 15. Kye ROWLES, 18. Matt MILLAR, 19. Matt SIMON (c), 22. Jacob MELLING, 23. Mario SHABOW (7. Andrew HOOLE 76’), 25. Jordan MURRAY
Substitutes not used: 12. Adam PEARCE & 2. Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS
Yellow cards: SIMON 19’, ROWLES 30’, MELLING 42’, MURRAY 81’,
Brisbane Roar: 21. Jamie YOUNG, 3. Luke DEVERE, 4. Daniel BOWLES, 7. Thomas KRISTENSEN (18. Joe CALETTI 66’), 8. Jacob PEPPER, 9. Adam TAGGART (23. Dylan WENZEL-HALLS 85’), 11. Eric BAUTHEAC, 17. Matt MCKAY (C), 19. Jack HINGERT, Connor O’TOOLE, 33. HENRIQUE (22. Tobias MIKKELSEN 63’)
Substitutes not used: 1. Brendan WHITE (GK), 2. Dane INGHAM
Yellow cards: BOWLES 12’, DEVERE 38’, PEPPER 52’, Bautheac 75’, MCKAY 90’
Sunday, 20 January 2019
Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Crowd: 4873
Central Coast Mariners vs. Brisbane Roar
