Melbourne City FC 4 (Kisnorbo 48’, Mooy 66’ (p) & 100’ Garuccio 69’) Central Coast Mariners 1 (Austin 35’)
The Run Down
A tough night at the office saw the Central Coast Mariners fall 4-1 to Melbourne City where Fabio Ferreira was shown red and Storm Roux was stretchered off in the second half after heading into the break with a 1-0 lead.
The away team came out of the box all guns blazing with a four-pronged attack consisting of 17-year-old Central Coast local Trent Buhagiar, Fabio Ferreira, Mitch Austin and Josh Bingham in the absence of Luis Garcia.
The Mariners marquee man was a late scratching from Sunday’s fixture after failing to recover from a knock he sustained last week against Adelaide United. The Spaniard is set to return for next week’s #F3Derby.
Proceedings kicked off with a bang when Austin set off on a gaping run from half way which he capped off with a class finish.
Jacob Poscoliero put in his usual big shift in the backline but will unfortunately miss next week’s #F3Derby after receiving his eighth yellow card of the campaign.
Set piece goals to Patrick Kisnorbo and Aaron Mooy, along with Mooy’s penalty and Garruccio’s strike sealed all three points for Melbourne City at AAMI Park.
The Hyundai A-League’s Golden Boot leader, Bruno Fornaroli was looming through out the match but Izzo did a fantastic job to keep ‘El Tuna’ at bay with some sharp saves.
Immediately after the incident involving Storm Roux, the young defender was taken to hospital with Club Physiotherapist Andrew Nealon. The Central Coast Mariners will provide updates on Storm’s condition, as they are made available.
Goals
35’ AUSTIN GOAL: It was a typical Austin run that opened the scoring for the Central Coast Mariners. The pacey winger found possession on half way and set off on huge run that ended with a classy finish
48’ KISNORBO GOAL: Aaron Mooy’s set piece provided the equaliser for Melbourne City, the Hyundai A-League leader in assists delivered a dangerous ball that Patrick Kisnorbo headed home from close range.
66’ MOOY GOAL (p): Paul Izzo made an incredible double save to deny Melbourne City but Jacob Poscoliero caught the heels of Nick Fitzgerald in cover defence to concede a spot kick. Mooy made no mistake, blasting into the top corner.
69’ GARUCCIO GOAL: Garuccio broke down the left flank and found himself with a one-on-one opportunity thanks to a Fornaroli through ball that was swiftly put away.
100’ MOOY GOAL: In true Mooy fashion, the in form attacker stood over the dead ball and curled it home to seal all three points for Melbourne City.
Walmsley’s words
“We don’t really know how Storm Roux is yet, he’s not in a good way. The Physio has taken him to the hospital so we will feed that information through as soon as we have it but it doesn’t look good and our thoughts are with him at the moment,” Walmsley.
“The way that Poscoliero and Ascroft handled Fornaroli in defence was immense.
“To concede off a set piece early in the second half was the last thing we needed, followed quickly by an injury and a penalty and after that it was very hard to come back.
“At 2-1 down you’re still in the game and we let the ball bounce for the third goal which is criminal.
“The performance in the first half was great and I’ll single out players like Liam Rose, Jacob Poscoliero and Harry Ascroft so there’s a lot of positivity in the group about where we are heading but about where we are is really painful.
“The only thing we can do is front up in the #F3Derby next week because we need to give our fans something to cheer about with the remaining games of the season. We play the Jets twice at home, Sydney FC at home, Victory at home which are great fixtures for us to re-produce what we did in the first half and maintain.
“Izzo is showing incredible resilience at the moment, he’s copped a lot of stick and he’s very young. He’s had his ups and downs by his own admission but he had an outstanding game today,” Walmsley said.
Central Coast Mariners: Izzo (GK); Roux (Neill 66’) McGing, Poscoliero, J Rose, Montgomery (c), L Rose, Bingham, Ferreira, Austin (McDonald 90’), Buhagiar (Berry 74’)
Yellow cards: Montgomery, Poscoliero, Ferreira
Red cards: Ferreira
Melbourne City: Sorensen (GK), Wilkinson, Franjic, Mooy, Zullo, Retre (Melling 79’), Garuccio (Dekker 87’), Fornaroli, Kisnorbo (c), Fitzgerald (Kuzmanovski 85’), Malik
Yellow cards: Zullo
