The Mariners fell to their first loss of the A-League season on Tuesday night, as a late goal from Nicolai Muller was enough for the Wanderers to leave Gosford as 1-0 victors.
A sold out 25% capacity crowd were treated to an entertaining opening half of football as both teams pushed from the opening whistle.
The contest was physical from the outset and Alou Kuol was booked for a collision two minutes in, and there were also chances early as Daniel Margush made saves from Josh Nisbet and Matt Simon either side of a Simon Cox header that went well over the crossbar.
Clear cut chances were hard to come by throughout the half as the battle continued in midfield, and Nisbet and Daniel DeSilva were excellent for the Mariners driving forward at the Wanderers back line.
Alou Kuol was replaced by Daniel Bouman at the break, and the second half began in similar fashion and Mark Birighitti made his first serious save 10 minutes in, getting his legs to a deflected effort from James Troisi.
Great work on the edge of the area between Nisbet and DeSilva freed the former up for a great chance, but after scuffing his first shot Nisbet rattled the bar with his second effort and the opportunity was eventually cleared.
Two nibbles for Josh Nisbet, but just couldn't put it away ?
?️: @FOXFOOTBALL
?: My Football Live app https://t.co/tlabbdo8jX#CCMvWSW #CCMFC #WSW #ALeague pic.twitter.com/JPtfTpuNPD— A-League (@ALeague) January 19, 2021
Simon was replaced by Jordan Smylie with half an hour to play and ten minutes later Lewis Miller came on for Stefan Nigro at fullback for Alen Stajcic’s side.
Marco Ureña and Jaden Casella were warmed up and ready to come on when the Wanderers struck though, with a long ball launched towards goal.
The ball wasn’t cleared properly, and Kwame Yeboah’s deflected shot fell perfectly into the path of Muller to fire home past Birighitti.
Casella and Ureña were introduced at the stoppage, but the Mariners were not able to find a way through in the dying minutes as they dropped their first points of the campaign.
Attention now turns to Friday night as the team travels to Netstrata Jubilee Stadium to take on Sydney FC.
