Central Coast continued to prove their doubters wrong with a spectacular 3-0 win over A-League leaders Gold Coast United at Bluetongue Stadium on Saturday night.
Written off by many before the season started, the Mariners clearly outplayed their highly-fancied opponents with their best performance in some time to climb into second spot on the ladder, just two points behind United.
A first-half strike to Englishman Nicky Travis and great goals by striker Matt Simon and midfielder John Hutchinson in the second saw the Mariners inflict Gold Coast’s second defeat of the season.
Things couldn’t have gone much worse for Miron Bleiberg’s side, with star striker Shane Smeltz controversially sent off in the 68th minute after picking up a second yellow card for dissent.
United had been hit by injury, forcing Bleiberg to hand first starts to former Juventus goalkeeper Jess Van Strattan and teenage African refugee Golgol Mebrahtu.
But the visitors were never in the match and barely had a sight on goal.
The Mariners applied plenty of pressure to the visitors from the get-go and successfully frustrated playmaker Jason Culina while cutting off the supply to Smeltz up front.
The home side took a surprise lead when Travis, who had looked their most dangerous player, scored his first A-League goal in the 26th minute.
Simon collected a headed ball from strike partner Dylan Macallister before turning and finding Travis with a neat pass and the Englishman did well in beating off three defenders and cooly slotting the ball home.
Gold Coast almost hit back just before halftime when Brazilian Anderson forced a good save out of Danny Vukovic with a thunderous strike from a free kick.
But the Mariners continued to control the match after halftime and doubled their advantage through some brilliance from Simon.
The striker collected a long ball from Nigel Boogaard on his chest, turned inside defenders Sebastiaan Van Den Brink and Kristian Rees and finished beautifully from almost 20 metres out at a tight angle.
A tough night at the office got much worse for Gold Coast in the 68th minute when Smeltz was shown his second yellow card after he appeared to make a gesture towards a sideline assistant while disputing whether a ball should have been called out.
And the nightmare continued when Hutchinson finished off a lovely move involving Simon, Pedj Bojic and Michael McGlinchey with a curling shot in the 70th minute.
Bleiberg said he was unsure as to the exact reason for Smeltz’s second yellow card, with the A-League’s top goal scorer to miss next weekend’s home clash with Melbourne through suspension.
The New Zealand striker was booked in the first half for retaliating to a tough challenge.
“I didn’t see any player kicked or any blood, so I call it probably a soft red card but I can’t judge I don’t even know what the event was,” Bleiberg said.
He paid tribute to a much-improved Mariners side but also said his side’s reputation as the team to beat was making opposition teams lift each week.
“I think we, as the Gold Coast, I think our reputation went ahead of us and every team that we play against plays out of their skin,” Bleiberg said.
“And if I give a value for the Mariners the way they played last week against Adelaide (1-0 loss) I give you one dollar and today they played one million dollars.”
Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna, coaching his 100th game for the club, was thrilled with the win, saying it was their most complete performance in recent memory.
“Over 90 minutes it was the most consistent,” McKinna said.
“Creating chances, we kept going and just believing in each other instead of being negative.
“Overall it was very pleasing.”
Midfielder
Guest
DiCanio You totally miss my point... My point is this while we owe a lot to SBS .. this does not make them imune from CRITICISM forever ... and despite what KB says there are many die hard football fans who feel the same I am not a lone voice .. on the Roar maybe but on many forums my veiw is the main one. Prehaps I did go overboard on some of our players... however can I ask you one very simple question.. Here we go... Sydney FC ... announce they are to trial a player rated gifted and talented the youngest ever to play for Celtic and offered a contract by Man U at 18.. Injuries set in and he has lost the past 3 .5 years.. He position is as a truely attacking number 10 and is said to have silky skills... 10 days latter SBS are doing a report on the A-League, who has been signed, what potential they bring, what a waste of money, etc... Do you think SBS would have ignored the signing if it had been SFC or MV or AU ????? i suggest not I suggest his signing would have been talked about as the right way for the laegue to be going, are Mariners medical staff certain he is injury free. Travis a similar story ? ? ? So can you explain why a player of his background is totally ignored in the pre season preview ???? BTW a brief summary below... Man U wanted him at 18 he choice to stay at Celtic.. his background. Singed by Celtic in Jan 2003, the youngest player ever to play in Celtic first team, played in Celtics under 19s side were they won 2 Scottish Cups and 1 league title, played for Scotland 35 times U 17 to U 20, in the final of the U19s European Championship. One of his most memorabile games was when Scotland U19 knocked out France in the EC, the French team included, Real’s Madrid Benzima and Arsenals Sammy Nazari.
DiCanio
Guest
This is old news though. You were praised for your performance from all corners in the most recent match, however that does not exonorate the past. It seems impossible for your comments to stay on topic, insisting on hyperbolic ranting without any respect to time and place. You should be praising Fozzie, his criticsm may have fueled McKinna et al to go out and search for a few more ball players. However you hyteria about McGlinchey going back to Man Utd and etc is just insanity based on current evidence. Happy to revist the topic in 5 rounds time if McGlincey is still fit and in form.
Midfielder
Guest
DiCanio & Papa You may think I am anti SBS ... but I am not ... what I am anti is a tabloid style show trying to say it is like an independent BBC production.... Further if I was a lone voice maybe I would back down..... Fozzie said go back and listen to A-League 1 vlog ... Fozzie says we have signed one English hoof up the field defender....we had at the time of both WeeMac & Travis and about 10 people trailing.... so unless the SBS research department did not know about Wee Mac background...this was never given credit of what it may become... Fozzie has himself nor Les talked about a 60 million dollar investment in the football academy in fact as we enter Hal 5, it has got a 2min 10 sec clip... Yet this is the very thing Fozzie pleads nay SCREAMS & YELLS is needed.... but never once say anything about it... Almost every football site expresses similar concerns to me about SBS & in the two recent Half Time Heroes issues the constant degrading of the Mariners is featured by their cartoonist and by some writers.. SBS have improved greatly this year ... I wonder did it have anything to do with Fox giving them footage to use...Amazingly SBS now have an ...A-League part and it goes for a while and is often positive... surprize surprize the football media war continues... As I have often said without SBS we would be in trouble and we owe them a lot ... but ...THAT DOES NOT MEAN I HAVE TO SAY EVERYTHING THEY DO IS WITHOUT CRITICISM .... and if they constantly bag out my team and my coach when we have only missed the finals once (and then by 1 point), made two grand finals, won the premiership, won two pre season comps... Yes Fozzie did say something good, well he hardly could not given the match ... then inferred it was because of the constant message they where being sent .. that they where starting to pass the ball... The Newcastle Herald keep a record of completed passes... this is a good record of who is controlling the ball.... the order as at the end of round 6 was Gold Coast were first, The Choppers were second, Third was the Mariners ... Again I ask anyone to read the reports of the match against the Tards and compare Fozzie's article to everybody else's Rant summary ... I am far from a lone voice on first SBS and second Fozzie, .... that the Mariners and our coach has hardly ever been spoken of in any other light other than hoof the ball up field all day is unquestionable.... despite stats like the above making two grand finals, winning a premiership... and I am still waiting for the guy the SCREAMS & YELLS build better training facilities develop kids over time to give either our 60 million dollar academy a mention ... nor the NSW Football Association academy a mention it's worth 40 million... SO ....... 100 MILLION DOLLARS being spent on football training academies ........... EVERYTHING FOZZIE wants and ....................... Can you hear the Fozzie sing NO . NOOOOOOOAAAAAAAA
Vicentin
Guest
A handful of pimply kids being thrown out is hardly earth shattering news as far as I’m concerned (referring to the Adelaide game). nah, I don't think so either but I heard about it on Radio National anyway. Agreed 15,000 - near full capacity in Adelaide looks a lot better than 11,000 at the SFS (capacity of about 45,000). I just hope the Western Sydney bid isn't aligned with the Olympic Stadium as I heard yesterday. Talk about a atmosphere killer.
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
I heard he is still eligible for the Brownlow this year and next even though he is getting suspended. I missed the start of the story so I’m guessing that is because it happened in the finals. That’s a bit nasty because even though I was not an AFL fan as a kid we all felt sorry for Chris Grant missing out because he was suspended.
Koala Bear
Guest
Pippi Boy, when it comes to Futebol Arte you have been lost in outer space for over 5 years... you should review Fozzie's "Tim's army article" again to see what is coming to Australia in the next 20 years ... ~~~~~~~ KB
Pippinu
Roar Guru
It made me try and picture a player who is both clean and sneaky, and I had trouble coming up with someone who fits the bill. The closest I could come up with was Mr Clean skin Judd (about to attend the Brownlow tonight with the Queen of the Wags, Rebecca Twigley), getting caught doing a bit of ear and eye surgery on his opponent.
Koala Bear
Guest
Sincere thanks DiCanio ;) ~~~~~~~ KB
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
Yeh perhaps squeaky clean would be a better idea
Pippinu
Roar Guru
sneaky clean? is that good or bad?? :)
Pippinu
Roar Guru
The Roar isn't a good place to ask a question like that!! This time last week, there were a few people insisting that someone had been killed during a juionr aussie rules game - but the truth ended up being something completely different. A handful of pimply kids being thrown out is hardly earth shattering news as far as I'm concerned (referring to the Adelaide game). The good news for Adelaide is that I reckon their crowds have been quite healthy this year - another 15,000 plus crowd against Melbourne, pretty good considering that the stadium is only marginally bigger than that.
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
I am torn on this remark On one hand I know a lot of what is frowned on is good natured and fine. I also know that a lot of people get chucked out of all codes for bad behavior (normally Alcohol related) but We all know that football has a history real or imagined and has to be sneaky clean. That's how it is and why the FFA are as strict as they are (but seriously FFA what is wrong with the southern cross flag). The bulldogs in the Rugby League got hammered for their crowd behavior too. That's the position every A league team is in, where all basically the Bulldogs and any further incidents will be jumped on no matter how tiny.
Vicentin
Guest
arresting soccer Hooligans - no doubt carrying ethnic (Melbourne) flags and singing inflammatory songs ... made the news of course - wonder if anyone got moved along at an AFL or League game this weekend?
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
No more active support :) I am a bit disingenuous there because I am glad they are making it family friendly without the need for segregation but I am a fan of Streamers, Flags and chants
Pippinu
Roar Guru
You talk about the voice of reason on one hand and being a passionate supporter on the other - sorry - but as the Lost in Space robot would say: It does not compute.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
AndyRoo what's the initiative?
Vicentin
Guest
Sorry Mid, but the "Nobody Rates & We Don't Care" line and the general tone of much of the above reads like the whining of a very needy teenager. You guys seem to be very balanced though - chip on each shoulder and all that. Fozz was quite generous to you guys yesterday - and I note that he particularly praisedTravis as the sort of player that the Mariners have needed ...."to slow the ball down" between defence and attack. Good observations I thought. When you play rubbish football (like when Sydney does - even recently) he bags you out. When you play well - and I certainly thought you played well the other day - he praises ... get on with it. He was very generous about Melbourne's performance the other day too - but he's a huge fan of Muscat (or very scared of him..........).
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
Exactly. Glad you have accepted the FFA initiative. Look at that MV vs Adelaide game, people supporting their teams all over the place. Lucky someone had the sense to call the cops and put an end to it.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Someone's carrying on a bit about the fortunes of their own team - call the police!!!
DiCanio
Guest
KB is the voice of reason Pip I passionately support a club in the aleague but I don't run around with my hand down my pants forcing hysterical hyperbole onto the discerning Roar reader.