Despite going a man down in the first half the Central Coast Mariners Academy capitalised on a dominant performance to defeat the Mt Druitt Town Rangers 3-0 away from home.
Mt Druitt Town Rangers 0 Central Coast Mariners Academy 3 (Peter Kekeris, Duncan Stewart, Lachlan Wales)
Central Coast Mariners showed their true colours when they beat Mt Druitt Town Rangers 3-0 at Popondetta Park on Saturday night.
Peter Kekeris, Duncan Stewart and Lachlan Wales scored the goals that gave the young academy side their victory.
Kekeris opened the scoring in the 30th minute but just when the Mariners began to establish some control, Reece Papadimitrios was dismissed from the field five minutes later after receiving a second yellow card.
Surprisingly, rather than struggle with a man short, the Mariners found an extra gear and played with a joie de vivre that delivered a much-needed victory.
Striker Duncan Stewart extended his side’s lead to 2-0 just shy of halftime and Lachlan Wales completed the scoring with a 65th minute penalty, earning the Mariners a result that delighted coach Ben Cahn.
“We’ve been playing really well all season and I always believed it was only a matter of time before the results started coming,” Cahn told Football NSW. “Mt Druitt had a tough midweek FFA Cup game (against Blacktown City) so we knew that if we played a high tempo game with good intensity it would be difficult for them to back up and compete with us.
“The game started pretty even and we scored without being too dominant. But when we went down to 10 men we lifted and they didn’t threaten us at all.”
The Mariners went into the match second-last on the competition table but for weeks Cahn has been proud of his side’s performances and their potential.
“I’ve over the moon with the boys because despite some bad results and some negative comments from outside (the Mariners group), we’ve been outstanding,” Cahn said. “Given the morale, belief and positivity amongst the group at training, you’d think we were unbeaten this season and not languishing near the bottom of the table.
“The way the players are working, the way they’re coming together trying to improve themselves, they’ve worked really hard on balancing their individual career prospects and developing a really positive team environment, and they’ve taken a lot of leadership and a lot of accountability for themselves. I’m sure we will only see more improvement for the rest of the season,” Cahn said.
The Central Coast Mariners are back at home this Saturday evening against Bankstown City with the first grade team kicking off at 6pm.
Popondetta Park
Saturday 13 May 2017
Mt Druitt Town Rangers: 1. Carlos Saliadarre (GK), 2. Hiten Satoh, 3. Brian Griffin-Colls, 5. David Mavisa, 6. Alexander Vlismas, 7. Chriss Loucos, 8. Matthew Clowes, 9. Mitchell Mclintock, 10. Nathan Ralph, 12. Nicholas Trimble, 14. Daniel Mccann, 16. Scott Goodwin, 17. Aram Tayebi Derazkala, 18. Jamie Dib, 21. Joel Tinker (GK), 23. Lachlan Roberts, Kuag Reec
Yellow Cards: Matthew Clowes Nick Trimble
Coach: Aidan Desmond
Central Coast Mariners: 1. Adam Pearce (GK), 4. Reece Papadimitrios, 5. Jake McGuinness, 6. James Enticknap, 7. Lachlan Wales, 8. Thomas Lyons, 9. Brenton Fox, 10. Duncan Stewart, 11. Peter Kekeris, 12. Yerasimakis Petratos, 14. Sean Pratt, 16. Gianni Stensness, 17. Jack Kuipers, 18. Steve Whyte, 20. Aidan Munford (GK)
Red Cards: Reece Papadimitrios
Coach: Ben Cahn
Earlier Results
- U20s WON 5-1
- U18s WON 1-0
Mariners Women held out by Inter Lions SC
The fast finishing Mariners’ Women have been held out by a slick inter Lions defence at Pluim Park on Sunday afternoon.
Central Coast Mariners Mariners Academy Women 0 Inter Lions SC 1 (Leanne Sharp 39’)
Early in the match both teams tested their opposition and looked for ways through rock solid defensive structures.
Neither side could dominate and the midfield battle was very evenly contested with both sides valuing possession and giving their opposition very few early chances.
The 39th minute saw Inter’s Leanne Sharp clear in front of goal and she made no mistake cleverly sliding the ball low and into the left corner of the goal past the diving Mariners keeper, Jess Schultz.
Mariners coach Mark Yule screamed for his players to maintain their effort and his team went into the break a goal down.
The second half started at a much higher intensity and Yule’s half time instructions seemed likely to had the desired effect with Mariners’ Gabbi Blanch released down the right side who launched the ball towards a wave of attacking Mariners only to be foiled by stoic last line Inter defence.
Later in the game, Mariners young star Georgia Davis was pushed forward and in the 77th minute her shot beat the keeper only to be cruelly denied by the post.
The Mariners women totally dominated the second half but were time and time again denied by the Inter keeper and some wayward shooting.
Full time was signalled ending in a very frustrating 1-0 loss to a Mariners team that were fighting and attacking right till the end.
Yule summarised “We totally dominated the 2nd half and probably the best 90 minutes we’ve put together but we just couldn’t find any luck,” Yule said.
“Today was just one of those days. My player of the match was our gallant Captain Oriana Keane who lead by example,” Yule said.
Next week sees the Mariners Women travel to Peter Moore Park to take on Sydney Olympic FC.
Match stats
Central Coast Mariners Academy Women: 1 Jess Schulz (GK), 4 Georgia Davis, 8 Oriana Keane (Cpt), 10 Kate Duffy ( 13 Jade Kroemer), 6 Jade Mcatamney, 9 Candice Phelan, 2 Jess Terry (14 Elizabeth Shorter), 7 Gabrielle Blanch15, Madelyn Ryan, 5 Letisha Waddell, 12 Katie Oliveira
Unused subs: 10 Jessica Hines, 20 Maddi Bradbury, 3 Christine Granero
Head Coach: Mark Yule
Inter Lions SC: 2 Kirilee Cook, 11 Jasmine Diavatiotis, 7 Angela Gardner, 14 Sarah Mandile, 6 Taylor Mikaelin, 32 Selen Santoro, 16 Leanne Sharp, 31 Rhonda Succar, 12 Hollie Wilson, 9 Paige Wilson, 3 Zoe Zaczek, 23 Alex Vousden, 30 Mel Parlato, 5 Rachel Cavanagh, 17 Georgia Bourbous
Referee: Laura Hockings
Earlier CCMA WPL results
- Under 13 CCMA 4 ILSC 0
- Under 15 CCMA 0 ILSC 1
- Under 17 CCMA 3 ILSC 4
- Reserves CCMA 2 ILSC 3
