The Central Coast Mariners have downed Perth Glory 2-0 on Saturday afternoon thanks to goals from Josh Bingham and Fabio Ferreira in front of a 7205 strong crowd at Central Coast Stadium.
Central Coast Mariners 2 (Bingham 48’ & Ferreira 52’ ) defeated Perth Glory 0
The Run Down
The Central Coast Mariners have downed Perth Glory 2-0 on Saturday afternoon thanks to goals from Josh Bingham and Fabio Ferreira in front of a 7205 strong crowd at Central Coast Stadium.
Despite missing top goalscorer Roy O’Donovan through suspension, the Mariners lacked no firepower up front, welcoming back imposing striker Josh Bingham for his first start of this Hyundai A-League season. It was the same at the other end of the pitch as Jacob Poscoliero returned for the first time since round 2, who was immense in the Yellow & Navy’s triumph over Perth.
It was a back and forth first half that saw chanes fall to both teams but Glory went the closest to being a goal up at the break. Adam Taggart had a prime opportunity at the back stick and couldn’t fire home an open goal with the scores locked at 0-0.
Whatever Head Coach Paul Okon said at half time worked wonders, as the Mariners came out firing in the second stanza to put the game to bed early.
The Mariners are spoilt for pace out wide with Connor Pain & Trent Buhagiar which had the Perth back four being dealt blow after blow. But it was our new found Aussie, Nick Montgomery who starred as man of the match.
Montgomery played a crucial hand in Bingham’s opener before Ferreira sealed the deal with a cheeky penalty which all came in less than five minutes.
At 2-0 down, things went from bad to worse for the visitors as their keeper Liam Reddy saw red for a challenge on Buhagiar after the youngster dispossessed the shotstopper just outside the box.
Goalkeeper Paul Izzo showed why he is one of the best young keepers in Australia, pulling off numerous outstanding saves to keep the ball out of his net and to give the Mariners their second clean sheet against Perth Glory this season.
Another special mention must go to Jacob Poscoliero who featured for 90 minutes in his first appearance since Hyundai A-League round two. The 26-year-old was a welcomed edition to a very impressive backline that he marshalled throughout the match.
Full focus for Okon’s side now turns to next weekend’s home away from home game in Canberra against Adelaide United on Sunday at 5pm.
Goals
1-0 Mariners: Josh Bingham 48’
The Mariners took the lead in the 48th minute thanks to a strong run into the box from captain Nick Montgomery, who was eventually tackled. Montgomery’s ball spilled into the path of Bingham who was on hand to tap home from close range despite Perth Glory’s strong demands for the goal to be disallowed for offside.
2-0 Mariners: Fabio Ferreira 52’ (p)
Referee Kris Griffiths-Jones deemed Josh Risdon to have handled the ball inside the box. Full of confidence, Ferreira stepped up to the spot and slotted his Panenka penalty up the middle followed by his trademark archer celebration.
Paolo in the press
“This is a reward for our recent performances,” Okon said. “The effort that everyone’s putting in, it’s a real challenge mentally when you really think that you’re worthy of more points but for whatever reason that hasn’t happened and the spirit has remained tremendous, everyone has been positive.
“It helps because we have been performing well and today at times we rode our luck a bit but I think we earned that luck today by our energy, hunger and desire to take three points.
“It’s very pleasing to keep a clean sheet, that’s important for us. We had ‘Posco’ back today which was a real positive for us and we’re happy to take three points.
“Izzo’s performance was not a surprise for me, I’ve worked with him for a couple of years now and he’s a tremendous young goalkeeper. The save he makes off Castro in the second half is a real game changer because if that goes in the momentum shifts.
“Perth have been in good form, they’ve got some real weapons up front, they’re a physical team but during the week we spoke about where we thought we could hurt them and we worked on it. Credit to the players, they executed as best as possible.
“We spoke about it at half time, about continuing to show personality and that moment would come and thankfully it did. In the end we probabaly could have scored a couple of more but we’ve won at home and we keep a clean sheet so it’s a good feeling.
“Bingaz has been very unlucky because we have some good attackers and unfortunately you can only have four on the bench. It’s been really difficult for me to not have him in the squad so I am pleased for him that he got a goal and worked hard. He lead the line, he did what we asked him to do and we are very happy for him.
“Jacob Poscoliero is an experienced defender in my eyes and to have him next to Rosey helped us and of course with Monty we know what we’re going to get. We’re going to get a player who’s going to run however long he plays for, he’s going to compete and drive everyone.
“The belief has always been there, we wouldn’t have been able to perform the way we have (even without getting points) if the belief wasn’t there.
“Next Sunday we have a game against Adelaide where we feel if we perform the way we have been performing then we’re a good chance of winning. We will recover, enjoy our third win of the seaon but come Tuesday the focus is getting that fourth win and we will work hard for it,” Okon said.
Central Coast Mariners: 20.Paul IZZO (gk), 2.Storm ROUX, 3.Scott GALLOWAY, 4.jacob POSCOLIERO, 7.Fabio FERREIRA (14.Berry 89’), 12.Trent BUHAGIAR, 8.Nick MONTGOMERY (c), 11.Connor PAIN (13.Appiah 85’), 16.Liam ROSE, 17.Josh BINGHAM (6.Powell 73’), 22.Jake McGING
Substitutes not used: 1.Ivan NECEVSKI (gk) & 26.Steve WHYTE
Yellow cards: McGing 5’, Buhagiar 37’, Roux 54’, Poscoliero 72’
Perth Glory: 33.Liam REDDY, 4.Shane LOWRY, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Joel CHIANESE (14.Harold 60’), 9.Andrew KEOGH, 15.Brandon WILSON, 16.Joseph MILLS, 17.Diego CASTRO, 19.Joshua RISDON, 22.Adam TAGGART (10.Marinkovic 60’), 24.Milan SMILJANIC (13. Feely 85’ (gk))
Subtitutes not used: 3.Marc WARREN & 20.Aryn WILLIAMS
Yellow cards: Lowry 73’
Red Card: Liam Reddy 83’
Saturday 28 January, 2017
Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Central Coast Mariners vs. Perth Glory
Attendance: 7205
Referee: Kris Griffith-Jones
