Brisbane Roar 3 (Brown 51’, Petratos 59’, Borrello 83’) Central Coast Mariners 1 (Fitzgerald 13’)
The Central Coast Mariners have gone down 3-1 to the Brisbane Roar in their last hit-out of the Hyundai A-League pre-season at Sunshine Coast Stadium, Kawana.
Nick Fitzgerald opened the scoring for the Central Coast in the 13th minute with a cracking goal from 20 yards after a sustained period of pressure for the Mariners.
However three second-half goals to Brisbane through Corey Brown, Dimitri Petratos and Brandon Borrello sealed the victory for the Roar.
Despite the result, the Mariners put in a strong performance at Sunshine Coast Stadium, creating a number of chances and applying forward pressure throughout the match.
A solid first half saw the Mariners press high up the field with Fabio Ferreira and Mitch Austin sending in a flurry of crosses that caused danger for the Brisbane defence.
Towards the end of the half, a rough knock to the left knee led to stand-in skipper Josh Rose being subbed out as a precaution, however the defender should be fine to take the field in Round 1.
Roy O’Donovan took the armband in Rose’s absence.
In the second-half, the momentum swung Brisbane’s way with two goals in 10 minutes through Brown and Petratos respectively.
In response to going a goal down, the Mariners stepped the attack up a notch, pushing an extra player forward and nearly equalising through substitute Dan Heffernan.
However against the run of play in the 83rd minute, Brisbane found the sealer when Brandon Borrello got on the end of a measured Petratos through ball.
The Mariners however will take many positives from the match, with the encounter allowing a chance for many players to get minutes into their legs before the Hyundai A-League Season kicks off.
The Central Coast Mariners will now shift their focus towards their Hyundai A-League Round 1 encounter with the Perth Glory on October 10 at Central Coast Stadium.
GOALS:
13’ FITZGERALD GOAL: After a string of Mariners corners and building the pressure in the front third, Nick Fitzgerald pounced on the loose ball outside the box and fired a cracking shot at goal from 20 yards out.
51’ BROWN GOAL: Shortly after the break, Brisbane Roar’s Corey Brown struck the back of the net to level scores at 1-1.
59’ PETRATOS GOAL: Thomas Broich glides 50 metres across the pitch, where he finds an unmarked Dimitri Petratos, with the sub making no mistake in the box.
83’ BORRELLO GOAL: Brandon Borrello found himself on the end of a well measured through ball from Dimitri Petratos and slotted a goal beyond Liam Reddy’s reach.
Walmsley’s words:
“We were outstanding tonight, forget the score line for a moment. There were players that played themselves into contention for the game against Perth. We created numerous chances, we got in behind them.
“Fabio Ferreira and Mitch Austin got a lot of crosses in.
“Roy O’Donovan led the forward line brilliantly. Caceres, he was everywhere tonight in midfield and Poscoliero and Storm Roux were very prominent.
“When they went 2-1 up, credit to the boys, the Mariners came back into the game, we pushed an extra man forward, brought Dan Heffernanon on, we could’ve equalised a number of times and they scored another one on the break.
“In terms of performance, we’ll get a lot of results playing the way we played tonight, home and away.
“We’ve got things to work on, there’s no doubt this team has plenty of improving to do. But if we play like that at home against Perth on the 10th of October, then we’re going to do very well.
Central Coast Mariners: Liam REDDY (GK), Joshua ROSE (c) (Glen TRIFIRO 42’), Eddy BOSNAR, Jacob POSCOLIERO, Storm ROUX, Harry ASCROFT, Anthony CACERES, Nicholas FITZGERALD, Mitchell AUSTIN (Daniel HEFFERNAN 74’), Fabio FERREIRA (Jake ADELSON 89’), Roy O’DONOVAN.
Unused substitutes: Paul IZZO (GK), Joshua BINGHAM.
Brisbane Roar: Michael THEO (GK), Corey BROWN, Steven LUSTICA, Jean Carlos SOLORZANO (Dimitri PETRATOS 9’), Jade NORTH, Daniel BOWLES, Matt McKAY (c) (Devante CLUT 82’), Jack HINGERT, Thomas BROICH, Brandon BORRELLO, George LAMBADARIDIS.
Unused substitutes: Jamie YOUNG (GK), Jerome POLENZ, James DONACHIE, Shannon BRADY.
Brisbane Roar 3 (Brown 51’, Petratos 59’, Borrello 83’).
Central Coast Mariners 1 (Fitzgerald 13′)
Venue: Sunshine Coast Stadium, Kiwana
