Central Coast Mariners 3 (O’Donovan 9′, Ferreira 58′ & 67′) Perth Glory 2 (Garcia 23′ & Sandor 90′)
The Run Down:
Thanks to Roy O’Donovan’s opener and a Fabio Ferreira brace in less than 10 minutes, the Central Coast Mariners have cruised to an entertaining 3-2 victory at Central Coast Stadium. Richard Garcia troubled the scorers in the first half with a header and Gyorgy Sandor found the net for Perth Glory in the dying stages.
An opening 90 minutes of play provided an end-to-end fixture for the fans in Gosford and the four debutants in Roy O’Donovan, Jake McGing, Mitch Austin & Harry Ascroft kicked off their time at the Mariners with a crucial three points.
Austin and Ferreira were damaging down the flanks and Roy continued to pressure the Glory back four with direct runs into the box.
Special mention goes to Liam Reddy who was quality through out the match and made three world-class saves in the last five minutes to hang on to all three points.
Full attention now turns to Hyundai A-League Round 2 where the Central Coast Mariners head to Brisbane, who also recorded a victory in their season opener.
GOALS:
9’ O’DONOVAN OFF THE MARK: The Irishman wasted no time in opening his account for the Central Coast Mariners with a quick fire strike in less than 10 minutes of play. After some classy play down the right flank, Storm Roux managed to send the ball into the 18-yard-box where O’Donovan was Johnny on the spot to knock it over the line.
23’ GARCIA HEADER: Josh Risdon was the provider down the right hand side who whipped a pinpoint cross to the head of his skipper. Garcia leapt above the pack and angled his header perfectly.
58’ PORTUGUESE PENALTY: Confident as ever, Ferreira stepped up to the spot kick after winning the penalty due to a late challenge from Guyon Fernandez. With absolute power, the Portuguese flyer drilled his effort into the top corner to put the Mariners in the lead.
67’ FERREIRA STRIKES AGAIN: A case of déjà vu at Central Coast Stadium saw Fabio Ferreira lining up for his second spot kick of the night in no more than 10 minutes. Storm Roux was brought down in the box and Ferreira nailed the top corner for the second time.
90’ SANDOR CONSOLATION: Sandor tried his luck in stoppage time and was rewarded with a consolation goal to round out the match.
Key Moments:
4’ FITZY FIRES: The Central Coast Mariners were the first to go close in less than five minutes after a brilliant piece of play down the right by Ferreira. The Portuguese speedster whipped in a pinpoint cross to Fitzgerald who’s shot flew wide.
31’ O’DONOVAN HEADER: Ferreira caused havoc down the Mariners’ right wing for large parts of the first half. With fifteen minutes remaining in the opening stanza his cross hit O’Donovan who lunged at the effort that just flew over the crossbar.
37’ FITZY FIRES (again): Fitzy proved a difficult task for the Perth back four and he went ever so close with a strike from just outside the area. His shot, low and hard – flew past the upright of Covic
38’ ROUX BICYCLE: Some ingenuity in the Perth Glory box saw the Kiwi international line up an overhead kick that cleared the cross bar.
45’ AUSTIN STRIKE: After some comical defending in the Glory area, Austin pounced on an opportunity but his shot was just wide of the post.
49’ CASTRO CROSS: The Spaniard looked to kick off the second half with a bang after breaking down the right hand side, his cross found Anthony Golec on the back post who’s shot was straight to the chest of Reddy.
53-55’ AUSTIN & FERREIRA COMBO: Mitch Austin came out of the sheds firing in the second half, causing plenty of issues down the left wing. Twice in the space of two minutes he crossed to Ferreira who’s header and volley were both too high.
58’ FERREIRA FOLLOW UP: Ferreira broke into the box with pace, set on goal, only to be stopped by a Fernandez foul – the spot kick lead to the Mariners’ second goal of the evening.
71’ MONTGOMERY MOMENT: The skipper motored into the box with a clear opportunity and looked to put the game to bed but he lost his footing before being able to fire off a shot.
82’ O’DONOVAN SHOT: Despite being 3-1 up, O’Donovan & Ferreira continued to pressure the Glory box. With less than 10 minutes to go Ferreira threaded the needle for O’Donovan, the Irishman broke through the back four and fired a shot that was well blocked by Covic.
Walmsley’s words:
“When you make a bold statement for as long as I have about entertainment you have to back it up and at the end of the day it’s not about me, I think the players really put a few things on the line that they maybe haven’t been asked to do before.”
“It’s a really bold and brave thing for them to go out on match day one and deliver that performance.”
“I was very relaxed waking up today, talking to the staff we knew that we were in very good physical condition – tactically there are some elements in our game we need to polish up.
“We put a young team out and when you’ve got three debutants starting there’s always a sense of uncertainty about how they’re going to go because you’ve not seen them in that environment but in terms of the level of belief I’ve got, it was never in doubt.”
“Roy O’Donovan has power through the middle and he’s a handful. Roy never stops, he’s one of those strikers that’s Johnny on the spot and will put the ball into the back of the net when the service is good.”
“People ask me all the time about marquee players, the Mariners can’t afford marquee players and whether we would go for one or not, I’m not sure.”
“I don’t know if we would fill the stadium here with a marquee player, what we’re trying to do is fill the stadium in a more organic way delivering those type of performances.”
“For me, a marquee player would have to do really well to outdo Fabio, Caceres and Austin tonight because they were terrific going forward.”
“The only people who really know what our capabilities are, are the people in the building. They’re at training every day, they’re close to the players and understand what their assets are.”
“I think it’s fair to assume that when you’re operating at the floor of the salary cap against teams that are spending more money that at times we’re going to be challenged but that’s the thing that we relish. It won’t stop us, home and away trying to play in that way because it excites me, I think it’s the best way that players can put themselves in the shop window.”
“A bold approach is the way forward for the Mariners.”
Central Coast Mariners: Central Coast Mariners: 2.Storm ROUX, 4.Jacob POSCOLIERO (23.Eddy BOSNAR 80’), 6.Mitch AUSTIN, 7.Fabio FERREIRA, 8.Nick MONTGOMERY (5.Harry ASCROFT 75’), 9.Roy O’DONOVAN, 10.Anthony CACERES, 11.Nick FITZGERALD (20.Anthony KALIK 72’), 12.Liam REDDY (GK), 21.Michael NEILL, 22.Jake McGING
Unused substitutes: 18.Glen TRIFIRO, 19.Josh BINGHAM, 30.Adam PEARCE (GK)
Yellow cards: Poscoliero 31’, Montgomery 40’
Perth Glory: 1.Ante COVIC (gk), 5.Antony GOLEC, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Gyorgy SANDOR, 10.Nebojsa MARINKOVIC (16.Sidnei SCIOLA 70′), 11.Richard GARCIA (c),14.Chris HAROLD (18.Mitch OXBORROW 65′), 17.Diego CASTRO, 19.Josh RISDON, 20.Guyon FERNANDEZ, 23.Michael THWAITE
Unused substitutes: 3.Marc WARREN 12.Jerrad TYSON (gk),15.Hagi GLIGOR
Yellow cards: Marinkovic, Sandor, Garcia, Marinkovic, Fernandez
Saturday 10 October 2015
Central Coast Mariners 3
Perth Glory 2
Venue: Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Kick-off: 5:15pm (AEDT)
Referee: Stebre Delovski
