The Central Coast Mariners secured a comfortable victory in the AFC Cup on Thursday night, coming away with a 6-3 victory over Bali United at Industree Group Stadium.
The result pushes the Mariners into first place in Group G, sitting on six points from three matches after recording dominant wins over the past two games.
Macro Tulio and Jacob Farrell were the stars of the show in Gosford, each scoring a brace.
Christian Theoharous also found the back of the net, scoring his first goal for the Mariners, while Bali United also put away an own goal created by Angel Torres.
The Central Coast Mariners fell behind in the 17th minute, conceding an unfortunate own goal against the run of play.
The home side were however quick to hit back, when left back Jacob Farrell unleashed a powerful strike from the edge of the 18-yard box into the top right corner. That goal drawing the scores level in the 24th minute.
10 minutes later Tulio scored his first for the night after calmly and confidently converting from the penalty spot, finding the bottom right corner. The penalty coming after Josh Nisbet was fouled in the box following some lovely moves from our midfielder.
Just 3 minutes later, Tulio struck again, this time smacking his second penalty kick into the top left corner of the goal. Jacob Farrell the man responsible for winning the penalty after being pushed from behind on the edge of the area.
Those goals in the 34th and 37th minutes giving us a 3-1 lead heading into the half time break.
Coming out for the second half, Bali United scored their second goal in the 47th minute, narrowing it to 3-2.
In the 50th minute, a brilliant ball from Dylan Wenzel-Halls found Marco Tulio, who created space for himself down the left-hand side. The Brazilian cutting the ball across to Christian Theoharous, who scored his first goal for the Mariners and secured our fourth of the night.
Only four minutes later Tulio was again the creator, setting up Angel Torres. The Colombian managing to cross the ball into the back of the net through an unfortunate deflection by young Bali United defender Kadek Arel. The own goal extended the Mariners lead to 5-2.
Farrell, who had already scored one goal and earned a penalty, calmly netted his second and the Mariners’ last goal in the 67th minute. The 20-year-old executing a flawless taken first-time effort from 6 yards away, guiding the ball into the lower right corner.
Against the run of play, Bali United forward Jefferson capitalised on a breakaway to score their third and final goal of the game in the 83rd minute. That goal ultimately only one of consolation, with the final score ending 6-3 in favour of the Mariners.
The Central Coast next take to Industree Group Stadium this Sunday afternoon at 3pm against Macarthur FC. To get tickets, click HERE!
