An overcast afternoon in Gosford offered a chilling portent of what was to come for the Central Coast Mariners as they hosted a high-flying Adelaide outfit.
In spite of the absence of Marcelo Carrusca and Bruce Djite, the Reds went into the match with great confidence that they could fly home with three points.
They did not have it all their way, however, as the home side looked tentatively in control in what was a dull and sloppy first half.
In a stanza dominated by dropped passes and yellow cards, it was the home side that fashioned the first real chance of the match, when Mariners youth product Michael Neill burst forward following an expert challenge on Fabio Ferreira.
The left back then slipped Mitch Duke through on goal, only to see his colleague tamely sidefoot the ball to the feet of Eugene Galekovic.
Having soaked up pressure for the majority of the first half, United found themselves 1-0 up against the run of play, when Fabio Ferreira’s deflected cross was turned in by Argentine midfielder Pablo Sanchez at the far post for his first goal for the club.
After such a promising start, it appeared that the breakthrough had knocked the wind out of the Mariners, something which was pounced upon by Josep Gombau and his men.
Less than 90 seconds after his first goal, Sanchez again found himself on the scoresheet as he pounced upon some torrid defending, which had initially allowed fullback Tarek Elrich to dribble through no less than four idle blue and yellow shirts.
Some positive substitutions before the hour mark made the Mariners a threat to the Reds’ lead, with Hungarian forward Richard Vernes bringing some much-needed tempo to his side.
However, these attempts were in vain as it went from bad to worse for the home side.
Following his second yellow of the match, experienced midfielder Nick Montgomery was given his marching orders with 20 minutes to go, meaning that both he and the substituted captain, John Hutchinson, were no longer participating.
It could have been even more embarrassing for the Mariners, as a grim fan-base watched on as keeper Liam Reddy desperately rushed back to his goal after pushing forward for a corner in the dying minutes.
The former Sydney FC custodian was lucky not to be sent off as he lunged in to prevent Craig Goodwin from scoring from distance.
Reds coach Gombau will be delighted that his side has extended their unbeaten run to seven league matches. Next week they travel to play a Melbourne Victory side who have also gone unbeaten thus far.
Meanwhile, the Mariners have a derby to contend with as they take the coach to Newcastle, but they’ll have to do so without influential midfielder Nick Montgomery, who’ll be serving his suspension.
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