By AAP
November 1st 2009 @ 1:10am
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Scoreless draw for Mariners and Adelaide
Central Coast Mariners finished with ten men but held Adelaide United to scoreless draw in a scrappy A-League match at Canberra Stadium on Saturday night.
Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna was upbeat about their dominance in the second half but conceded the Gosford outfit should have made better of their chances in the mid-table clash.
“We played some good football and created some good chances which we should have taken,” McKinna said.
“We played the last ten minutes with 10 men and we handled that well.”
Midfielder Matthew Crowell was shown the red card by referee Ben Williams for a second bookable offence.
Crowell had fouled in the 77th minute to receive his first yellow card of the game and then grabbed the ball five minutes on when Adelaide were given a free kick in the Mariners half.
Mariners striker Adam Kwasnik was left to rue a golden opportunity to score in the 73rd minute.
Strike partner Matt Simon squared the ball to Kwasnik who just needed to change the direction to beat Adelaide gloveman Eugene Galekovic on the six-yard line.
But Kwasnik hesitated and then pushed the ball into the hands of a diving Galekovic.
“It’s disappointing we’ve let two points go again,” McKinna added.
“When it comes in front of goal and Adam knows he didn’t need to take a touch, he hits that first time, who knows?”
The first half, while end to end at times, was lacking in any real potency.
Adelaide skipper Travis Dodd produced the only real chance close to the half hour.
Matthew Leckie released the former Socceroo down the left and from an acute angle Dodd’s right foot strike went millimetres wide at the far post.
Mariners keeper Danny Vukovic was well beaten by the pace of the ball.
“It wasn’t too far off but still it’s disappointing, I really need to be hitting the target and testing the keeper at least,” Dodd said.
“It’s something that I need to work on, finishing in front of goals. I’ve only scored one goal for the year, from the penalty spot, I really need to be having a return from in front of goal.”
A crowd of 5437 turned up for the Mariners’ home game, moved south to promote football in the capital.
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