The Central Coast Mariners Academy have suffered a narrow 3-2 loss at the hands of St George FC in round five the PS4 NPL 2 season.
Ben Cahn’s men went behind early after a defensive mishap which allowed Daniel Loe take advantage and send the ball into the bottom corner for St George.
The Mariners looked sure to level the game in the eighth minute when Maki Petratos picked the ball up on the edge of the area. Petratos pulled the trigger but his venomous strike flew just wide of the post.
Five minutes later the Mariners had their equaliser through Petratos who caused all sorts of troubles for the St George back four. In the 13th minute Petratos was on hand to tap home after a great run from Peter Kekeris into the box to level the scores 1-1.
Unfortunately the lead didn’t last long and St George regained their advantage just two minutes later through a deflected shot from the boot of Loe who had his brace.
Ben Cahn changed things up in the 20th minute, which saw centre back Tom Lyons move into the midfield. Cahn’s tactical change was a masterstroke, just a minute later Lyons found himself in a dangerous position before firing a shot that was just wide of the goal and went agonisginly close to levelling the scores.
St George were the next ones to create a chance but Adam Pearce came into the fold to make an incredible one-on-one save in the 55th minute to keep his side in the contest
The visitors extended their lead to 3-1 in the 79th minute when Juan Carlos Heras Romero scored from the edge of the 18-yard-box.
The young Mariners showed plenty of fighting spirit in the dying stages and were rewarded in the 90th minute through Charles William but the score would remain 3-2 in favour of St George.
Earlier results:
- 18s WON: 7-2 (Macey x 2, Clarke, Nisbet, Jevtic, Kuzevski x 2)
- 20s won 3-0 ( Glassock, Kamara x 2 )
The Central Coast Mariners Academy will face Mounties Wanderers at Valentine Sports Park on Sunday 9th of April. Kick off times are as follows:
- 18s : 11am
- 20s : 1pm
- First Grade : 3pm
