By Liam FitzGibbon
November 28th 2009 @ 1:08am
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Mariners and Glory draw blank
Perth Glory halted Central Coast’s A-League hot streak after holding the Mariners to a dour scoreless draw at Bluetongue Stadium on Friday night.
Despite the Mariners netting nine goals in their past two matches it was the Glory who threatened most in front of goal in a lacklustre affair played in front of 7857 fans.
Perth were unlucky not to have taken all three points after striker Mile Sterjovski hit the post with a stunning 25-metre volley in the first half.
The Mariners also had in-form goalkeeper Danny Vukovic to thank for a share of the spoils, with the ‘keeper making two crucial saves in the second half.
The result saw the Mariners move temporarily into third place ahead of Gold Coast while the Glory remain in fifth.
The highlight of an otherwise-forgettable first half was undoubtedly Sterjovski’s scorching long-range effort which would have been a certain goal of the year contender.
The Socceroos striker latched on to a volley which swerved considerably from left to right before it cannoned off the left upright.
The only other genuine chance of the first half also fell to the Glory, with Victor Sikora shooting over the bar from Sterjovski’s dangerous cross.
The Mariners gave their fans some brief excitement when Adam Kwasnik turned in a quickly-taken John Hutchinson free kick but he was rightly ruled offside.
Vukovic made the first genuine save of the match in the 51st minute when he reacted quickly to deny an Adriano Pellegrino header at the far post.
Central Coast coach Lawrie McKinna introduced Matt Simon to make his return from a back injury in the 54th minute but it did little to spark the Mariners into action.
Sikora forced another good save out of Vukovic in the 69th minute after he was played into space by a lovely Branko Jelic ball, the goalkeeper getting just enough of a touch to see the shot slide across the face of goal.
Tempers flared shortly after when Simon brought Sterjovski down and the Glory striker’s retaliation earned him a yellow card.
Simon and fellow substitute Ahmad Elrich both had chances to steal the win for Central Coast in the dying minutes but neither could get their shots on target.
Glory coach Dave Mitchell felt his side could have stolen a win but was pleased with the result against a Mariners outfit coming off big wins over North Queensland and Melbourne.
“The way the Mariners have been playing, banging in goals right, left and centre, to come to here and keep a clean sheet is a good result for us and I thought we probably could have snuck it with a bit of luck,” Mitchell said.
“Our defence was superb tonight … happy with the result.”
McKinna also took positives from a share of the points.
“No goals against, and it’s a draw against one of the teams that are thereabouts,” McKinna said.
“Nil-all is probably a fair result for both teams … we just looked a bit flat for most of the game.”
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