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Central Coast were again left wondering what might have been after their Asian Champions League dream ended – and their winless streak continued – with a heart-breaking 3-2 loss to the Pohang Steelers in South Korea on Tuesday.
A second-half double to winger Adam Kwasnik looked to have the Mariners heading for victory in the must-win match after Brazilian striker Denilson had given Pohang the lead with a seventh-minute penalty.
But Denilson capitalised on some poor defending to strike again in the 70th and 88th minutes to seal a hat-trick and make it impossible for the Mariners to progress to the knockout stages.
“It’s another game where we’ve been so close but yet so far and against the good Asian teams, they punish you,” Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna told AAP.
“To get ourselves in the lead after a poor first half and to still lose, it’s very disappointing.”
It was an all-too familiar story for Central Coast, who are now on a winless streak of 10 games in 2009 with their last competitive victory coming in the A-League on New Year’s Eve last year.
They could easily have improved on their record of two draws and three losses in the ACL had they not been so guilty of sloppy defending late in games.
With one match remaining – against China’s Tianjin Teda in Gosford on May 19 – the Mariners are anchored to last place in Group H on two points and cannot finish in the top two in their group.
“The boys are shattered because you look at the games we’ve played and we should have got more out of them,” McKinna said.
“It’s definitely a mental thing that comes in, we were up 2-1 today and we looked as though we were going to go on with it.
“It was 30 degrees out there so we tired in the last 15 minutes, but we tired mentally.”
After Denilson had converted from the spot following a clumsy Ped Bojic challenge the Mariners struggled to get into the game, Matt Simon missing the visitors’ only real chance of the first half.
But Kwasnik turned the game after the break.
The winger capitalised superbly on a bad defensive error from Kim Hyungil, taking a fine touch before firing in a neat finish from a tricky angle in the 52nd minute.
He did it again five minutes later to give the Mariners the lead when he swung in a free kick that was amazingly missed by players from both sides before curling into the net past out-of-position goalkeeper Shin Hwa Yong.
The Mariners lifted noticeably and looked to be heading for an historic first ACL win before Denilson was left alarmingly unmarked in the penalty area and equalised in the 70th minute.
There was still slight hope for the Mariners up until the Brazilian headed home the sealer in the dying minutes.
McKinna said there were plenty of positives to take out of the campaign but acknowledged his squad needed work before the A-League begins in August.
“We enjoyed the experience, it’s been good for the players, but it shows you we’ll have to rebuild the squad which we’ll do in the off-season,” he said.
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS’ COMPETITIVE MATCH RECORD IN 2009
Date Result Competition
January 10 lost 4-3 to Queensland Roar, Gosford A-League
January 16 lost 3-0 to Melbourne Victory, Melbourne A-League
January 25 lost 1-0 to Adelaide United, Gosford A-League
February 6 lost 2-0 to Queensland Roar, Gosford A-League
February 13 lost 2-1 to Queensland Roar, Brisbane A-League
March 11 drew 0-0 with Pohang Steelers, Gosford ACL
March 18 drew 2-2 with Tianjin Teda, Tianjin ACL
April 8 lost 5-0 to Kawasaki Frontale, Gosford ACL
April 21 lost 2-1 to Kawasaki Frontale, Kawasaki ACL
May 5 lost 3-2 to Pohang Steelers, Pohang ACL
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