James Watts

Mariners 3 – 5 Brisbane

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Central Coast Mariners 3 (Pain 38’, O’Neill 45+2’, Murray 82’) Brisbane Roar 5 (Bautheac 32’, Lopez 36’ & 54’, Mikkelsen 45’, Wenzell Halls 75’)

The run down

In a crazy night of football at Central Coast Stadium, the Mariners have finished the game with nine men on the pitch, ultimately conceding to a 5-3 defeat at the hands of Brisbane Roar.  

Goals to Connor Pain, Aiden O’Neill & Jordan Murray weren’t enough at home, cancelled out by strikes to Eric Bautheac, Tobias Mikkelsen, Dylan Wenzell Halls and a brace to Alex Lopez.

Despite having the better of the chances in the first half, the Mariners were unable to clear a corner which led to the spectacular Bautheac bicycle, giving Brisbane a lead against the run of play. The Mariners continued to pressure and push for an equaliser before the break but it was a word class volley by Lopez which doubled their lead.

A determined Yellow & Navy outfit continued their lively first half, despite a two-goal deficit, which was rewarded by Pain’s tidy header in the 38th minute. The momentum continued with the Mariners and Pain could have easily had a hat-trick in the space of five minutes, but a clearance off the line and an impressive Jamie Young reflex save kept Brisbane in the lead. Young made a raft of impressive saves throughout the game to keep his side on top.

The high intensity and Mariners’ momentum continued but Brisbane had their third before the break through Mikkelsen. However, the Mariners weren’t finished, and Aiden O’Neill clawed one back with a beautiful finish right on half time to make 3-2 and a five goal first half.

The Mariners came out in the second half hunting for an equaliser and wasted no time as a distant shot by Karacan was dealt with by Young. But less than a minute later, Lopez had his brace at the other end of the pitch.

As the game carried on, frustration grew for the Mariners which was evident when Aiden O’Neill picked up his second yellow of the game, reducing the Yellow and Navy to ten men.

In the 75th minute, a lucky deflection found its way to Wenzel-Halls who converted his one-on-one.

Down to 10 men, the Mariners continued to push and had their third goal of the night when Jordan Murray came off the bench to head home his second Hyundai A-League goal.

The last piece of drama came with minutes to go, when Matt Simon received his second yellow and the Mariners were reduced to nine men.

GOALS:

32’ BAUTHEAC GOAL (0-1): Wenzel-Halls’ cross fell to Bautheac who acrobatically finished with a bicycle kick.

36’ LOPEZ GOAL (0-2): A looping ball fell to the foot of Alex Lopez who dispatched a world class volley from distance.

38’ PAIN GOAL (1-2): Millar burst down the right, his cross found Pain who headed the ball past Young.

45’ MIKKELSEN GOAL (1-3): Mikkelsen looped his header over Kennedy.

45’ O’NEILL GOAL (2-3): A nice one-two between O’Neill and Pain was superbly finished from range by O’Neill. His second strike from distance in two weeks.

54’ LOPEZ GOAL (2-4): A quick counter attack saw the Roar with numbers and Alex Lopez’s drilled shot found its way in the bottom corner.

75’ WENZEL-HALLS GOAL (2-5): A lucky deflection in the midfield found its way to Wenzel-Halls who converted his one on one.

83’ MURRAY GOAL (3-5): A corner reached the head of Murray who moved well to lob his header over a hapless Young.

Mulvey in the media

“We’ve conceded five, scored three, probably could have scored another four or five, should have been up at half time. We need to defend crosses better.

“You can never excuse when players lose their heads, or get sent off. But the amount of frustration that the lads must have been feeling, feeling like the whole world is against us. Matt Simon is a combative player, he didn’t get one free-kick today. We didn’t get the rub of the green.

“The frustration that we were feeling, that comes from decisions and non-decisions can be quite overwhelming.

“We came into this game on the back of a decent performance against Sydney. Apart from the Wanderers game a couple of weeks ago, we’ve been really good at times. We were really good again today in stages. I’m just gutted that we’ve lost this game in the matter that we have done.

“We just need to regroup, get ourselves back into training and get ready to go for the next game.

“Look at their goals. World class goals. First one the cross comes in and Bautheac is free six yards out. Once again, we’ve got a situation where our mistakes afford the opposition opportunities. It’s been our Achilles heel all season really.

“You need to look at the game in its entirety. At the moment I’m shaking my head thinking how have we lost it? We scored three goals at home, conceded five. It’s not good enough. We’re down to 10 men for quite a while and eventually finish with nine, we obviously need to fix that. At the end of the day, we want a fair crack of the whip and we didn’t get that toady,” Mulvey said.  

Central Coast Mariners: 1. Ben KENNEDY (GK), 2. Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS, 7. Andrew HOOLE (22. Jacob MELLING 73’), 11. Connor PAIN, 13. Aiden O’NEILL, 15. Kye ROWLES, 18. Matthew MILLAR, 19. Matthew SIMON, 28. Samuel GRAHAM, 29. Stephen MALLON (25. Jordan MURRAY 59’), 68. Jem KARACAN

Substitutes not used:  24. Joe GAUCI (GK), 3. Jack CLISBY, 8. Michael McGLINCHEY

Yellow cards: SIMON 18’ 90’, O’NEILL 35’ 62’, ROWLES 52’, PAIN 68’, KARACAN 72’

Red Cards: O’NEILL 62’, SIMON 90’

Brisbane Roar: 21. Jamie YOUNG (GK), 2. Dane INGHAM (38. Izaack POWELL 22’), Daniel BOWLES, 8. Jacob PEPPER, 11. Eric BAUTHEAC, 12. Ruon TONGYIK, 14. Alex LOPEZ, 17. Matt McKAY (c), 22. Tobias MIKKELSEN (36. Daniel LECK 67’), 33. Dylan WENZEL-HALLS, 33. HENRIQUE (7. Thomas KRISTENESEN 82’)

Substitutes not used: 1. Brendan WHITE (GK), 16. Charles LOKOLI NGOY

Yellow cards: BAUTHEAC 76’

Friday, 22 February 2019
Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Central Coast Mariners vs. Brisbane Roar

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