The Central Coast Mariners Academy suffered a 4-1 loss at the hands of Sydney FC Academy at Lambert Park, Leichardt despite a goal to Trent Buhagiar.
Sydney FC Academy 4 (Kuleski, Zuvela, Iredale x 2) Central Coast Mariners Academy 1 (Buhagiar)
Sydney FC had the first chance of the match when captain Liam O’Dell fouled the Sydney FC attacker in the box that resulted in a spot kick that was saved by Tom Heward-Belle. Unfortunately Heward-Belle was deemed to have moved off his line too early, Kuleski re-took and scored to make it 1-0 in the 12th minute.
The Mariners had a chance through Matt Lee in the 29th minute when he found himself inside the box with a good chance. Lee pulled the trigger but didn’t trouble the Sydney FC keeper.
Sydney went close to a 2-0 lead in the 33rd minute when the Sydney striker got in behind the Mariners’ defence and faced Heward-Belle. THB went down low and saved well to keep it 1-0.
Sydney had their buffer in the 44th minute when Chris Zuvela finished well from the edge of the box into the bottom corner leaving Heward-Belle no chance in goals.
Sydney thought they went 3-0 ahead in the 49th minute when the Sky Blues attacker shot past Heward-Belle. The ball look destined for the net but O’Dell was on hand to clear the ball off the line with a full-blooded slide.
The Mariners hit back in the 61st minute through speedster Trent Buhagiar. Buhagiar pulled the trigger from the edge of the box and put it past Mitchell Evans to make it 2-1.
Sydney took a 3-1 lead in the 73rd minute when the ball fell to John Iredale inside the edge of the area. Iredale hit the ball on the volley sending it past Heward-Belle.
Iredale doubled his tally in the 84th minute when he drilled his shot low and hard across the face of goal making it 4-1.
The Central Coast Mariners Academy will play their final home game of the regular season at Pluim Park next Sunday against Spirit FC: U18s kick off at 11am, U20s kick off at 1pm and first grade kick off at 3pm
Central Coast Mariners Academy: Trent Buhagiar, Cooper Buswell, Shelford Dais, Thomas Heward-Belle, Christopher Hurley, Jordan Lane, Matthew Lee, Thomas Lyons, Liam O’Dell, Adam Pearce, Sean Pratt, Zachary Thomas, Nathan Verity, Lachlan Wales, Steve Whyte
Sydney FC Academy: Andreas Agamemnonos, Christopher Arditti, Brendan Curtis, Mitchell Evans, Patrick Flottmann, Christian Gonzalez, Matthew Green, John Iredale, Nicola Kuleski, Charles Lokolingoy, Daniel Maskin, William Mutch, Nicholas Sorras, George Timotheou, Juan Zapata, Chris Zuvela
Earlier results:
- 18s LOST 3-1 (Sutherland)
- 20s LOST 4-0
