The Central Coast Mariners have fought from a goal down against the Western Sydney Wanderers away from home to earn a point thanks to Adam Berry’s maiden Hyundai A-League goal.
Western Sydney Wanderers 1 (Santalab 8’) Central Coast Mariners 1 (Berry 61’)
In the absence of Nick Montgomery, 19-year-old-Berry made his Hyundai A-League starting debut in the centre of midfield and capitalised to score on the hour mark.
The goal came as a result of Roy O’Donovan’s determination in the front third who ran hard to challenge Wanderers’ keeper Andrew Redmayne for a 50-50 ball. O’Donovan did enough for possession to fall to the feet of Berry who finished into an open net for the equaliser.
Storm Roux was given the skipper’s armband at Spotless Stadium and didn’t let down the Mariners’; faithful. In fact, the Kiwi right back linked up well with Fabio Ferreira on the right to earn man of the match plaudits.
Paolo in the press
“We’ve been working very hard in training and we are happy with our fitness levels,” Okon said. “We forced that goal through our enthusiasm, hunger and our press. In the end we were more than worthy of a point and possibly maybe even three.
“I don’t have the whistle or flag to make those decisions but all I’ll say is that in the four games we’ve had some bad decisions go against us that has cost us points. They do tell me, because I’m an inexperienced coach, that over the season it balances itself up so I can’t wait for that.
“It’s important to get something out of every game and last week for me I was disappointed in our performance. In patches we were OK but we were stretched and allowed Roar to stretch us. We know that the Wanderers have some very good players in that front third and I think everyone saw tonight how good Martinez and Jumpei are so we needed to restrict that space.
“We asked the players to work hard, they did that and in the end there is usually some sort of reward and tonight we go home with a point and confidence that we’ve competed against one of the teams that’s considered to be one of the best teams in the competition.
“We have threats in the final third but they need to see the ball, it needs to come at the right time and it needs to come in the right spaces. Where we let ourselves down tonight was the final pass, we are working on that but after four games we are on the right track.
“If anyone thought we were going into this season to win 27 games in the league coming from where we were they’d be nuts. We travel to Adelaide next week, we’re looking forward to it, we’ll go with confidence and it’s another challenge. Adelaide is the best footballing team in the competition, after us and I think it will be two good teams going at it.
“At times we controlled the game, especially in the second half but for me it’s the intent. The players are doing what we’re asking and as long as the efforts there we can’t ask much more,” Okon said.
Western Sydney Wanderers FC: 20.Andrew REDMAYNE, 12.Scott NEVILLE, 18.Robert CORNTHWAITE, 17.BORDA, 3.Jack CLISBY, 15.Kearyn BACCUS (Jacob MELLING 69’), DIMAS (C), 6.Mitch NICHOLS, 10.Nicolás MARTINEZ, 14.JUMPEI, 11.Brendon SANTALAB (Lachlan SCOTT 81’)
Unused substitutes: Jerrad TYSON (GK), Brendan HAMILL, Steven LUSTICA
Central Coast Mariners: 20.Paul IZZO (gk), 2.Storm ROUX, 3.Scott GALLOWAY (21.Michael NEILL 63’), 22.Jake McGING, 19.Jacques FATY, 6.Blake POWELL (14.Liam ROSE 84’), 7.Fabio FERREIRA (13.Trent BUHAGIAR 75’), 9.Roy O’DONOVAN, 10.Mickael TAVARES, 11.Connor PAIN, .Adam BERRY
Unused substitutes: 30.Adam PEARCE (gk),17Josh BINGHAM
Yellow cards: O’Donovan 41’, Faty 51’
Saturday 29 October, 2016
Spotless Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park
Western Sydney Wanderers vs. Central Coast Mariners
