The Central Coast Mariners have gone down 2-0 to Western Sydney Wanderers after goals to Tarek Elrich and Jaushua Sotirio gave the home side the three points.
Western Sydney Wanderers 2 (Elrich 45’, Sotirio 77’) Central Coast Mariners 0 ()
The run down
The Mariners started with an attacking intent to try capitalise on the Wanderers’ fragility at the back.
Despite the Mariners’ early possession, the best chance of the half fell to Oriol Riera, but his header was saved strongly by Ben Kennedy.
World class, @bjk0136 ! #WSWvCCM #CCMFC #ALeague pic.twitter.com/yJgObdl1U1
— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) February 9, 2019
There was a flurry of chances for both sides towards the end of the half, but Western Sydney made the most of it as a cross-come-shot by Elrich bounced across the face of goal, off the woodwork and in, giving the Wanderers the lead right before the break.
As the game resumed, the Yellow and Navy were desperate to equalise and a great volley by Matthew Millar was tipped over the bar by Wanderers’ keeper Vedran Janjetovic.
The Mariners pushed for a much needed equaliser, but Western Sydney were able to make the most of a counter, with some strong work from Mitchell Duke finding Roly Bonevacia, who played Sotirio in and he duly converted.
The Yellow and Navy gave it all they could but couldn’t find the net as the Wanderers went away from Spotless Stadium with all three points.
GOALS:
45’ ELRICH GOAL (1-0): A cross by Elrich evades everyone and goes in off the post.
77’ SOTIRIO GOAL (2-0): A through ball by Bonevacia was converted by Sotirio.
Mulvey in the media:
“If you look at the last seven or eight weeks, we’ve done extremely well in terms of our performances.
“Today wasn’t a representation of what we’ve been doing.
“The effort we’ve put in over the last seven or eight weeks has taken its toll; maybe the heat. Maybe Matt Simon missing. You can say they’re excuses, but we don’t have excuses. We just didn’t turn up today.
“If I look at the first half in isolation, I’d say it wouldn’t have been an exciting game to watch. It was slow. We didn’t have a spark. And we conceded a goal from a cross that we potentially could’ve closed down.
“It was a mirror image of the first time we played Western Sydney.
“We didn’t have a creative threat in the front third in the first half. And when we did get a creative threat, we didn’t have players in the box that could finish.
“We were off the pace today. It wasn’t a performance that epitomises what we’re about, and what these lads are capable of. They’ll admit to that. They know we fell short as a team.”
Western Sydney Wanderers: 20. Vedran JANJETOVIC (GK), 5. Brendan HAMILL (c), 8. Jordan O’DOHERTY (22. Rashid MAHAZI 87’), 9. Oriol RIERA (12. Mitchell DUKE 70’), 13. Tass MOURDOUKOUTAS, 16. Jaushua SOTORIO, 17. Keanu BACCUS, 21. Tarek ELRICH, 27. Kwame YEBOAH (11. Bruce KAMAU 26’), 28. Roly BONEVACIA, 33. Tate RUSSELL
Substitutes not used: 40. Nicholas SUMAN (GK), 14. Mathieu CORDIER
Yellow cards: Oriol RIERA 22’, Brendan HAMILL 40’
Central Coast Mariners: 1. Ben KENNEDY (GK), 2. Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS (c), 6. Tom HIARIEJ (10. Tommy OAR 46’), 7. Andrew HOOLE, 11. Connor PAIN, 13. Aiden O’NEILL, 15. Kye ROWLES, 18. Matthew MILLAR (29. Stephen MALLON 69’), 25. Jordan MURRAY, 28. Sam GRAHAM, 68. Jem KARACAN
Substitutes not used: 12. Adam PEARCE (GK), 3. Jack CLISBY, 8. Michael McGLINCHEY
Yellow cards: Kye ROWLES 74’
Saturday, 9 February 2019
Spotless Stadium, Sydney
