Central Coast Mariners’ Foxtel National Youth League side suffered their first defeat of the season on Monday when Sydney FC Youth’s James Andrew fired home in the 85th minute to earn the junior Sky Blues a 1-0 win.
The game at Lambert Park saw the mini Mariners enjoy some strong periods of play – Stu Jacobs’ boys created numerous opportunities to score, but couldn’t manage to put the icing on a few slick moves.
Sydney FC had attacker Max Burgess sent off just before the half hour mark after he was adjudged to have lashed out with an elbow.
Following the game Jacobs described the performance of his young charges as encouraging, even though the match against the ten player Sydney side ended in defeat.
“It was encouraging, even if they had ten men for large periods of the game,” Jacobs said. “Sometimes it’s actually harder to play against ten men than 11.”
“Physically we coped, tactically we coped, and I thought technically we were good on the night. It was a pass mark.”
The mini Mariners play against Perth Glory Youth in Tuggerah this Saturday at 11:00am. Entry to the match at the Club’s Centre of Excellence is free.
“Perth beat Newcastle 3-0 earlier in the season so they’ll no doubt provide a tough test,” Jacobs said. “But we’ll focus the group this week, train Thursday and Friday, and be ready for the match.”
A number of Central Coast Mariners Hyundai A-League squad members may get match minutes against Glory Youth this weekend.
