Our Mariners Academy teams continued their strong performances across the early rounds last weekend across both the Men’s and Women’s competitions.
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Our Mariners Academy Men’s first grade team continued their excellent start to the season, scoring late against Northern Tigers to secure a 3-2 win at Pluim Park on Saturday afternoon.
Nick Montgomery’s side bucked the trend of previous weeks and started strongly, and hit the front ahead of half time thanks to two quickfire strikes from Mikey Katsoulis and Jordan Smylie to leave them up by two goals at the break.
Tigers hit back though in the second half and equalised through two goals of their own to leave the game evenly poised, but Jordan Smylie popped up with seven minutes to go, firing home a cut back to secure the points and leave the Mariners on top of the table.
“The last few weeks we have started well but given away some cheap goals from individual errors, and this time I challenged the boys to start well and not over play in the early stages,” Montgomery said.
“To go two goals up early on was pleasing and well deserved as we put them on the back foot from the kick off.”
Attentions now turn to a rivalry clash with the Jets this weekend as the Mariners seek to continue their blistering start to the campaign.
“We take it game by game and after each week we review and put it to bed and start looking forward.”
“The Jets will be back to full strength after they will have a few players released from the A-League bubble as do we.”
“We know about complacency and we will approach the game with confidence but also respect for the opposition who have a good coach in Daniel McBreen and some good players too.”
1st Grade: Central Coast Mariners 3 (Smylie (2), Katsoulis) def. Northern Tigers 1
U/20’s: Central Coast Mariners 3 def. Northern Tigers 1
U/18’s: Central Coast Mariners 3 def. Wollongong Wolves 0
U/16’s: Central Coast Mariners 2 def. Wollongong Wolves 1
U/15’s: Central Coast Mariners 1 def. by Wollongong Wolves 2
U/14’s: Central Coast Mariners 0 drew. Wollongong Wolves 0
U/13’s: Central Coast Mariners 4 def. Wollongong Wolves 2
Check out our Academy Men's and Women's Teams of the Week for the latest round! #CCMFC pic.twitter.com/qF5bqk8pzV
— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) August 11, 2020
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Dan Barrett and the Academy Women’s first grade side suffered their first defeat of the season on Sunday afternoon, falling 1-0 to Marconi from an early set piece.
After three wins to start the season the Mariners came up against a physical Marconi side, and a 50/50 contest saw Marconi win an early free kick on the edge of the area that was converted to give them the lead.
A strong defensive effort for the rest of the game kept the visitors scoreless, but Barrett’s team were not able to find a goal of their own as it finished 1-0.
“I can have no complaints about the energy and effort the girls gave, but our biggest problem was a lack of discipline and not playing as we know how to,” Barrett said.
“We gave Marconi what they wanted, an arm wrestle, and the game turned into a 50/50 contest rather than one that we could dictate and control.”
“Brooke Miller and Jess Garrett were very important for us and put in an outstanding shift, and helped keep us in the game as we chased goals of our own.”
The Mariners now face Southern Branch and North Shore Mariners in their next two games, and Barrett said there are plenty of learnings to take from this game.
“For me the next two games are the best two teams in the competition,” he said.
“We have to look at the weekend as a lesson and not a loss, and the lesson is to play out style of football no matter what and we will have to make sure we do that leading into a huge fortnight.
1st Grade: Central Coast Mariners 0 def. by Marconi Stallions 0
Reserves: Central Coast Mariners 1 drew. Marconi Stallions 1
U/17’s: Central Coast Mariners 3 def. Marconi Stallions 0
U/15’s: Central Coast Mariners 1 def. by Marconi Stallions 2
U/14’s: Central Coast Mariners 4 def. Marconi Stallions 2
