In an incredible afternoon that saw six goals between the Central Coast Mariners & Western Sydney Wanderers Academies, both teams shared the points after two stoppage time strikes.
Central Coast Mariners 3 (Wales, Buswell & Papadimitrios) Western Sydney Wanderers 3 (Morfitis, Fox & Cimenti)
Goals to Lachlan Wales, Cooper Buswell and Reece Papadimitrios saw the Central Coast Mariners Academy and the Western Sydney Wanderers Academy play out a nail biting 3-3 draw in the PS4 NPL 2 at Pluim Park, Lisarow on Sunday afternoon.
The first chance of the afternoon fell to Trent Buhagiar 10 minutes into the match when he pulled the trigger from just inside the 18-yard-box but his strike took a deflection onto the crossbar.
The Wanderers had the next chance in the 27th minute when Brenton Fox found himself with space on the edge of the box. Fox’s shot tested Tom Heward-Belle but it was just wide.
Heward-Belle kept the scores level in the 34th minute when he stood tall and saved well in a one-on-one opportunity.
The Wanderers came out firing in the second half where it only took them 30 seconds to score thanks to a Jordan Morfitis strike to make it 1-0.
Four minutes later the Wanderers doubled their advantage when Fox capitalised on a slip up at the back, his low and hard shot went straight into the bottom corner.
The Mariners returned serve in the 54th minute through Lachlan Wales who fired home off the back of some impressive build up play by Shelford Dais.
Trent Buhagiar had a golden chance in the 68th minute but couldn’t put his curling effort on target.
Matthew Symes was the only thing that was keeping the scores level for the Wanderers making a number of impressive saves to keep his side in the match.
With three minutes of regulation time remaining the Mariners equalised when a loose ball inside the box fell to youngster Cooper Buswell. Buswell hit his shot first time and sent it past Symes to make for an interesting last few minutes.
The Mariners completed their comeback in the 91st minute when a stunning finish from Reece Papadimitrios flew into the top corner and looked like it had sealed a crucial three points for the home team.
But that wouldn’t be the end of Western Sydney who dug deep for an impressive equaliser thanks to a Kyle Cimenti close range header in the 93rd minute that made for a 3-3 scoreline at full time.
Central Coast Mariners Academy: Trent Buhagiar, Cooper Buswell, Shelford Dais, Joshua Forbes, Thomas Heward-Belle, Jordan Lane, Matthew Lee, Liam O’Dell, Reece Papadimitrios, Adam Pearce, Ryan Peterson, Sean Pratt, Nathan Verity, Lachlan Wales, Steve Whyte, Christopher Hurley.
Western Sydney Wamderers Academy: Charles Abou Serhal, Danial Axford, Keanu Baccus, Lachlan Campbell, Kyle Cimenti, Henry Davies, Brenton Fox, Kosta Grozos, Lawrence Hanna, Abdelrahman Kuku, Tacettin Kumsuz, Tariq Maia, Jordan Morfitis, Ramy Najjarine, Tate Russell, Matthew Symes
Earlier results:
- 18s lost 1-0
- 20s lost 5-1 (Hall)
Womens results vs. Nepean
- U13s drew 0-0
- U15s lost 1-0
- U17s drew 1-1 (Couch)
- First Grade lost 1-0
