Sydney FC may have walked away 4-2 victors over the Central Coast but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the coaches.
The Sky Blues’ Graham Arnold left disappointed, while Mariners mentor Phil Moss was all smiles.
Down 2-1 with half an hour remaining at Allianz Stadium on Saturday the Sky Blues fought back, scoring three goals to secure the win and heap more misery on the Mariners.
Marc Janko and Rhyan Grant scored a goal in each half to cancel out a double from the Mariners’ Portuguese import Fabio Ferreira.
But super-sub Shane Smeltz came on late to regain the lead for Sydney with Janko striking again at the death with his 10th of the season to give the hosts their first home win in seven matches.
Despite the scoreline Moss’s men dominated the the bigger portion of the match, getting in behind Sydney’s defence to create several chances in the opening hour.
“The positives out of it is the four goals, the three points and the character we showed when we were down to come back. But I am grumpy today,” said Arnold, who’s side have closed in on the top four.
“They got in behind too easily. There was no pressure on the ball and we didn’t track runners.
“I have to say the Mariners were good, they deserved more today.
“Let’s be honest, things are very healthy when I look down the bench and I can bring someone like Shane Smeltz on who can change a game.
“But the first 60 minutes, it wasn’t good … I’ll be studying the video tonight till all hours to fix the defence.”
Arnold admitted he’d been focusing more on attack than defence over the last few weeks and with a massive 15 goals in their last four games it shows.
Moss was nothing but proud of his charges who, after being rolled 5-1 by Sydney in their last meeting, were out to settle the score.
After the disappointment of missing out on the Asian Champions League with a 3-1 loss against Guangzhou R&F on Tuesday, the Mariners were also desperate to get their A-League season back on track.
But while they matched it with Sydney for the majority of the match, defensive lapses and a lack of finishing proved the difference.
The Mariners still only have three wins in 18 games and are languishing in eighth place but Moss was delighted with his side’s performance.
“We’ve copped a battering and we adopted a mentality today that it was us against the world,” he said.
“That’s the sort of aggression and mental resolve that I expect every week.
“I said to the boys before the game ‘we’re out of Asia, everyone is saying our season is dead and buried we need to go out there and prove otherwise’.
“I think that was there for all to see today.
“When a coach of Arnie’s stature say we deserved a lot more from the game that fills me with pride.”
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