Adelaide United 2 (Carrusca 25’, Goodwin 67’) Central Coast Mariners 1 (Caceres 23’)
The run down:
The Central Coast Mariners have fought hard at Coopers Stadium with an early goal only to be overcome by Adelaide United 2-1 on Thursday night.
Anthony Caceres kicked off proceedings with a wonder strike from outside the area in the 23rd minute after a mix up in the Adelaide backline, although his strike would not be enough to deliver the yellow and navy with all three points.
Marcelo Carrusca silenced the Mariners’ celebrations with a stunning strike of his own at the other end of the pitch just two minutes later that ultimately sent both sides into the sheds on level terms at half time.
A Craig Goodwin deflected shot in the 67th minute would unfortunately prove the difference for the Reds. Goodwin’s hit smashed into the body of Zac Anderson that looped its way into Liam Reddy’s net.
An attacking match up ended 2-1 in Adelaide with chances to both sides rounding out an aggressive, yellow card filled fixture. Full attention for the yellow and navy now turns to their next hit out on March 22 at Central Coast Stadium against Perth Glory.
Walmsley’s thoughts:
“It started the way we wanted it to start, we pressed high, we went at them quickly and got a goal and the lead at that stage. Very disappointed to concede so soon after.”
“(Pressing high) it’s a physicality thing, you really need to work on that through a full pre-season to do it properly at the moment it’s to set them up to get a benchmark. Adelaide are a good side and it identified the gap we need to close to move forward and sustain it for longer periods.”
“We’ve been trying to drop Fitzy off to play as a second 10 next to Caceres so he gets himself away from those physical battles but of course when you have opportunities in the first half like we did it would be great to have that 20 goal a season player to nod one in.”
“The game was littered with fouls from both sides, it was a little bit messy. Some of the tackles if we kept our feet and had a little bit more stability in the one v one we would have done a little better.”
“The reality is that we’ve got good numbers in the squad. We are training with 24. A couple of youth players that we’ve signed for next season could get registered. We could get an early look at those guys but I doubt we will go into the injury replacement market.
GOALS:
23’ CACERES GOAL – In typical Anthony Caceres fashion the young midfielder controlled possession and absolutely blasted his shot into the side netting of Eugene Galekovic. After some questionable play from the back between Nigel Boogaard and Isais, Caceres dispossessed Adelaide and made no mistake with his long range strike to put the Mariners 1-0 up after a dominant opening period.
25’ CARRUSCA GOAL – The celebrations were short-lived by the yellow and navy who were silenced by an immediate response through Adelaide’s Argentinian attacking ace, Carrusca. The attacking passage began through a wide Tarek Elrich run, Elrich played the ball into Carrusca who controlled and faked a shot. The quick feet of Carrusca stood up the Mariners’ defence, which allowed Carrusca to drive home just outside the 18-yard box.
67’ DEFLECTION – Adelaide’s Craig Goodwin took a chance from just outside the area, his strike took a horrible deflection to gift the home side a 2-1 win.
Key Moments:
6’ – FERREIRA FIRES: Fabio Ferreira attempted to light the fixture up in the early stages with a wishful strike from a difficult angle just outside the area. His optimistic right foot curled just over Galekovic’s crossbar.
16’ – MONTGOMERY SHOT: Nick Montgomery tried his luck from all of 25 yards out with a powerful strike that looked to be on its way to goal, only to be stopped by Caceres.
23’ – 25’ GOALS – A fast paced game was matched by a pair of rapid-fire goals from both sides through Caceres and Carrusca. The away side were in the box seat with all the field position and a goal just after the twenty-minute mark but the celebrations were short lived after the Argentinian fired home just two minutes later.
47’ – MARRONE to CIRIO: The home side looked to kick off the second half in style through some impressive link up play between Michael Marrone and Cirio. Marrone did well to spin with the ball at the top of the box to play a clever ball to Cirio, the Spaniard’s shot was blocked by Reddy.
55’ – CARRUSCA SHOT: The Argentinian tried to replicate his effort from the first half with a powerful strike only to be blocked by the back of Josh Rose’s head.
61’ – ELRICH to CARRUSCA: The Mariners looked to be in a sticky situation after Elrich curled a sensational cross to the feet of Carrusca. Carrusca took an uncharacteristic poor first touch that ended the Red’s opportunity.
71’ – BOSNAR HEADER: A beautifully taken free kick from Caceres out wide floated into the Adelaide box onto the head of Eddy Bosnar. An unmarked Bosnar attempted to head home the equaliser but could not beat Galekovic.
87’ – REDDY SAVE: Jeggo leaped above the pack to fire a strong header on goal, Reddy’s firm right hand denied the opportunity.
93’ – ROSE SHOT: Rose had a chance to level the wagers in the dying stages with a quality strike but his low and hard shot from just over twenty yards out flew just wide of the upright.
Adelaide United 2
Central Coast Mariners 1
Coopers Stadium, Gosford
Attendance: 7767
Referee: Yudai Yamamoto
Central Coast Mariners: 3.Josh ROSE, 4.Jacob POSCOLIERO (2.Storm ROUX 57’), 5.Zac ANDERSON, 7.John HUTCHINSON (c), 8.Nick MONTGOMERY (18.Glen TRIFIRO 79’), 10.Anthony CACERES, 11.Nick FITZGERALD (14.Travis MAJOR 66’), 12.Liam REDDY (GK), 23.Isaka CERNAK, 25.Eddy BOSNAR, 26.Fabio FERREIRA
Substitutes not used: 1.Matthew NASH (gk), 15. Matthew SIM
Yellow cards: 8. Nick MONTGOMERY 4’, 25.Eddy BOSNAR 63’, 2.Storm ROUX 68’, 26.Fabio FERREIRA 80’, 5.Zac ANDERSON 84’
Red cards:
Adelaide United: 1.Eugene GALEKOVIC (GK) (c), 2.Michael MARRONE, 3.Nigel BOOGAARD, 4.Dylan McGOWAN, 8.ISAÍAS, 9.Sergio CIRIO, 10.Marcelo CARRUSCA (5.Osama MALIK 90+2’), 11.Bruce DJITE (19.Miguel PALANCA 90+4’), 16.Craig GOODWIN (7.PABLO SÁNCHEZ 72’), 18.Jimmy JEGGO, 21.Tarek ELRICH,
Substitutes not used: 20.Paul IZZO (GK), 24.Bruce KAMAU
Yellow cards: 10.Marcelo CARRUSCA 80’
Red cards:
