The Central Coast Mariners may have been written off by many ahead of Hyundai A-League 2009/10 season, but the team itself was unsurprised with its performance, after a dominant 2-nil win away to the defending Champions Melbourne Victory.
The Central Coast Mariners may have been written off by many ahead of Hyundai A-League 2009/10 season, but the team itself was unsurprised with its performance, after a dominant 2-nil win away to the defending Champions Melbourne Victory.
With Melbourne keeping a low profile during the pre-season the Mariners may have been forgiven for not being quite sure what to expect of the defending champions, who started brightly enough, with Kevin Muscat playing a long ball to Tom Pondlejak, whose ball in was well dealt with by Nigel Boogaard.
Glen Moss was called into action on eight minutes to easily deal with a Boogaard throw in flicked on by Brad Porter, but two minutes later, the task at hand was far less enjoyable for the Victory custodian.
Boogaard won a free kick in a dangerous position in the right channel, and the home side-s defence was unable to deal with John Hutchinson-s free kick, allowing Matt Simon to blast home past Moss, and create history as the Hyundai A-League 2009/10 season-s first goalscorer.
Two minutes later, Hutchinson stepped up in a similar position, his set piece this time cannoning off Simon-s back, but the Mariners wouldn-t have to wait long to double their advantage.
Chris Doig pumped the ball up to Adam Kwasnik on the left, who cut back allowing Michael McGlinchey to launch a 25-yard effort on debut. The diminutive Scotsman-s effort taking a deflection off Roddy Vargas, before nestling in the back of the net, to make it 2-0.
The Mariners were looking solid at the other end too, Pondlejak was put through on 22 minutes and layed off for Archie Thompson, but the Qantas Socceroo was well shut down by Boogaard and Alex Wilkinson.
Moss was again called into action to cut out a Simon cross destined for Brad Porter, while at the other end, a Danny Allsopp header flashed wide of the back post after a Pondlejak cross.
Allsopp was denied by Danny Vukovic one-on-one, however Matthew Breeze had already found a foul by Thompson on McGlinchey, and as the half wound down, the Mariners defence again stood tall to clear, after Vukovic-s initial block of a dangerous ball in from Thompson.
Brad Porter missed the target from a corner early in the second half, but from there the hosts were to enjoy a long period of dominance.
Carlos Hernandez and Danny Allsopp were both off target after receiving openings, while Pedj Bojic and Dean Heffernan both made important clearances to diffuse Melbourne raids.
The hosts best chance of the match came just before the hour, when Thompson whipped a good ball in from the right, and a charging Tom Pondlejak fired a first time effort marginally over the bar.
Hernandez then saw a 30-yard rocket slide wide of the left hand post, as the Mariners continued to keep Melbourne at bay.
As the Victory-s frustrations grew, the pendulum slowly swung back the Central Coast-s way. Dylan Macallister was introduced and won a free kick on the edge of the area, which saw Bojic fire over, before charging down a Moss clearance.
Michael McGlinchey and Adam Kwasnik both made dangerous runs into the Melbourne box, but neither were able to get shots away, but it mattered little, as the Mariners proved the critics very wrong, with a gutsy 2-nil victory over the Premiers on their home turf.
The Mariners first home match of the Hyundai A-League 2009/10 season is against local rival Newcastle Jets on Friday, August 14. Tickets are available online here or by phoning 132 849.
Mariners Memberships for the Hyundai A-League 2009/10 season are now available online by clicking here or by phoning 1300 767 442.
Match Details
Central Coast Mariners 20. Danny Vukovic (gk), 4. Pedj Bojic, 5. Brad Porter, 7. John Hutchinson, 8. Dean Heffernan, 14. Michael McGlinchey (22. Nicky Travis 80-), 16. Nigel Boogaard, 17. Chris Doig (21. Ahmad Elrich 72-), 18. Alex Wilkinson (c), 19. Matt Simon (11. Dylan Macallister 64-), 23. Adam Kwasnik.
Unused Subs 1. Andrew Redmayne (gk).
Yellow Cards Boogaard 17-, Wilkinson 39-, Porter 63-, Hutchinson 67-, McGlinchey 78-, Travis 90+4-
Red Cards None
Goals Simon 10-, McGlinchey 15-
Melbourne Victory 20. Glen Moss (gk), 2. Kevin Muscat (14. Billy Celeski 73-), 6. Leigh Broxham, 7. Matthew Kemp, 8. Grant Brebner (22. Nicky Ward 76-), 9. Daniel Allsopp, 10. Archie Thompson, 12. Rodrigo Vargas, 15. Tom Pondeljak (11. Ney Fabiano 64-), 16. Carlos Hernandez, 19. Evan Berger.
Unused Subs 1. Mitchell Langerak (gk).
Yellow Cards Berger 40-, Ward 90+4′
Red Cards None
Goals None
Referee Matthew Breeze
Crowd 18,855
