Shannon Cole confirmed his growing reputation as one of the A-League’s most dangerous set-piece specialists after earning 10-man Sydney FC a dramatic 3-2 win over the Central Coast Mariners at Bluetongue Stadium tonight.
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After rattling the post from a free kick in his A-League debut last week, midfielder Cole tonight went one better from just outside the area as he swung the ball beautifully over the Mariners’ wall and passed a diving Danny Vukovic to break a 2-2 deadlock and hand Sydney their first win of the season.
More remarkable was the fact the goal came in the 81st minute – 12 minutes after Sydney star recruit Stuart Musialik had been sent from the field in his first game for the club.
The former Newcastle Jets premiership midfielder, one of a raft of significant signings for Sydney over the off-season, was given his marching orders by referee Ben Williams after receiving two yellow cards in a matter of seconds.
The first came for a late challenge on Bradley Porter, with Williams showing a second yellow and then red after Musialik appeared to yell “f*** off” while turning his back to the ref in disgust.
The drama of the final 25 minutes added further to what had already been a heart-pumping game as makeshift Sydney skipper Steve Corica twice put his side in front, only for Mariners striker and former Sydney star Sasho Petrovski to twice equalise.
Corica – who along with Alex Brosque and Mark Bridge caused havoc for the Mariners defence all night – netted in the sixth and 14th minutes, with Petrovski scoring from the spot in the 12th and then with a strong turn and shoot effort in the 67th.
While not quite matching the epic nature of Sydney’s 5-4 victory the last time these two teams met in December, the match nevertheless added further to what continues to be one of the A-League’s marquee rivalries.
In all, 19 goals have now been scored in the clubs’ last three league meetings – all won by Sydney by one goal.
Williams handed out nine yellow cards in addition to Musialik’s red, but that high number of bookings perhaps masked what was a free-flowing contest, with Sydney coach John Kosmina in particular impressed with his side’s performance.
“We played a lot of good football and I don’t think anybody can take that away from us,” Kosmina said.
“To be honest we could have been three up at halftime, comfortably. And we could have even gone on with it in the second.
“But Central Coast, to their credit, the longer you take to finish them off the more chances they have to come back into a game and they did it again to us.
“This time it was a little bit of magic from Shannon Cole (which won the game).”
Cole celebrated his matchwinner – and first A-League goal – with an equally impressive somersault, with Kosmina saying the 24-year-old had spent extra time during the week perfecting his free kicks having come so close against Melbourne.
“It was a great free kick, unstoppable,” Kosmina said.
While stopping short of defending Musialik’s actions, Kosmina said the Olyroos star, who only returned to Australia last week from Olympic duties, had perhaps not fully comprehended Football Federation Australia’s initiative to crack down on dissent against referees this season.
“The new rules are always going to take a bit of time for people to accommodate for. Stuey, and I’m not defending him, but he probably isn’t aware with how serious the FFA and the referees are about verbal challenges to their decisions, because he hasn’t been here … but he knows now well and truly how it’s going to be in the future,” Kosmina said.
The Mariners have a history of struggling to take advantage of playing with an extra man, but coach Lawrie McKinna insisted tonight’s loss could not be put down to underperforming against 10-men.
“It’s still a free kick … whether there’s 10 players on the field or 11, it doesn’t make a difference,” McKinna said.
“It was a fantastic finish … but to lose it with a free kick like that was hard to take because I thought we were dominating at that time of the game.”
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