A goal to Kaine Sheppard was just enough to scrape the Newcastle Jets home before they withstood a relentless second half barrage from the Mariners to somehow, escape with all three points.
Newcastle Jets 1 (Sheppard 54’) Central Coast Mariners 0
The run down
The Mariners had the best chance of the first half when Jack Clisby fired over the bar in the closing stages of a cagey first half where both sides struggled to get a foothold on the game.
After heading to the sheds at half time locked at 0-0, Josh Nisbet earned his Hyundai A-League debut who substituted on for a sore Tom Hiariej at half time.
46’ | SUB:
➡️ Nisbet ON
⬅️ Hiariej OFFA HUGE congrats to Josh Nisbet who makes his @ALeague debut. Well in, Nizzy! #CCMFC #F3Derby #ALeague pic.twitter.com/EfifF33DuE
— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) January 23, 2019
Wing-back Clisby turned provider after the interval with a good cross that Michael McGlinchey nodded straight at Glen Moss.
But then it was the Jets who converted one of their rare chances to make it 1-0. There were calls for VAR to check Roy O’Donovan’s run in the lead up for off-side, but the goal stood.
Then, the Jets bunkered down and somehow repelled everything the Mariners threw at them, with several goal line saves.
Murray had the first chance in the final 30 minutes when Andrew Hoole’s perfect ball from out wide hit the head of Murray. Murray’s header was on target, but a defender deflected it for a corner. Two minutes later, it was Murray again who looked certain to fire home Clisby’s cross, only to be denied by a desperate Ivan Vujica lunge on the line.
79’ | CHANCE! SO CLOSE! How did that not go in? Aspro heads onto the crossbar. It bounces back to Painy. Pain’s shot is on target but again. It’s blocked. #F3Derby #CCMFC #ALeague
— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) January 23, 2019
The Jets continued to ride their luck as Lachlan Jackson produced another desperate diving save on substitute Connor Pain after Jonathan Aspropotamitis headed a corner against the crossbar.
And centre-back Jackson had to be alert once more to preserve his side’s advantage in stoppage time, crucially turning a goal-bound Murray effort off the line as Central Coast’s two-match unbeaten run came to an end.
GOAL
SHEPPARD GOAL (1-0): A dubious run by Roy O’Donovan ended with a ball into the box that was met by Sheppard who finished from close range.
Mulvey in the media
“Our guys at least deserved a point. At least. We got caught with a through ball, which in my opinion was clearly offside when the ball was played through to O’Donovan. I’m at a loss to understand why it wasn’t checked properly by VAR, and if it was checked properly why we weren’t given an explanation. The explanation I got from the fourth official was that it’s too close to call it in the studio.
“This is not the first time it’s happened to us. The inconsistency is not a good look for the A-League. It’s not about the Mariners, it’s about what it looks like for the league. Every ground has cameras on the 18-yard-box to be able to officiate on VAR discrepancies. I’ve been told on good authority that the 18-yard-camera was taken down before the ball was handballed in the box by Newcastle from Jordan Murray’s shot. Clear handball from where I was sitting. Surely that deserves a second look? I’m aggrieved for our players who didn’t deserve that result.
“My players will keep turning up, we will keep having a go. I thought they had a fantastic effort tonight. That was a 0-0 game at the very least for us, I thought we withstood the pressure of the first half, in the second half our performance was very good, we created very good chances and on another day probably could have scored a few goals.
“We turned a corner, we got some results. We should have had another result tonight. We threw Nisbet in there in the second half who did well, we had three 20-odd year olds marshalling the back three. Wer’re going in the right direction and we will keep fronting up and having a go,” Mulvey said.
Newcastle Jets squad:1.Glen MOSS (gk), 6.Steven UGARKOVIC, 7.Dimi PETRATOS, 9.Roy O’DONOVAN (11.Mitch AUSTIN 86’), 13.Ivan VUJICA, 14.Kaine SHEPPARD (8.Jair, 80’), 16.Nick COWBURN (10.Ronald VARGAS 61’), 17.Daniel GEORGIEVSKI, 18.Johnny KOUTROUMBIS, 22.Lachlan JACKSON, 44.Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY
Substitutes not used: 20.Lewis ITALIANO (gk) & 24.Joe CHAMPNESS
Yellow cards:
Central Coast Mariners: 1.Ben KENNEDY (GK), 2.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS, 3.Jack CLISBY (17.Peter KEKERIS 80’), 6.Tom HIARIEJ (26.Josh NISBET 46’), 7. Andrew HOOLE, 8. Michael MCGLINCHEY (11. Connor PAIN 66’), 13. Aiden O’NEILL, 15.Kye ROWLES, 18.Matt MILLAR, 22.Jacob MELLING, 25.Jordan MURRAY
Substitutes not used: 12. Adam PEARCE & 16.Josh MACDONALD
Yellow cards: Clibsy 37’
Wednesday, 23 January 2019
McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
Newcastle Jets vs. Central Coast Mariners
