Central Coast have secured their first back-to-back A-League wins in nearly three years, seeing off Adelaide 2-1 to defibrillate their slender finals aspirations.
Fabio Ferreira scored against his former club in a hot and sticky Canberra on Sunday, before Kwabena Appiah netted his first A-League goal to lift the Mariners within five points of sixth-placed Western Sydney, whom they play next weekend.
Their first set of consecutive wins since April 2014 came despite a slow start in stifling 33-degree heat, countered with drinks breaks both sides of halftime.
And though Adelaide had the early run and earned a stoppage-time consolation via a fine finish from teenager Jordan O’Doherty, the reigning champions now lag five points adrift at the foot of the ladder.
Central Coast’s first attempt on goal went unrewarded after a linesman hastily ruled Roy O’Donovan offside, despite replays proving the contrary.
They would take the lead soon enough thanks to goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic’s worrying game-ending injury – a suspected muscle tear in his shoulder.
No sooner had the captain’s replacement John Hall entered the fray on 30 minutes than the 22-year-old ran out into no-man’s land as Trent Buhagiar sped towards goal.
Hall blocked the first effort but was too late to atone for the costly error when Connor Pain lifted a speculative ball to Ferreira, who whipped home a lovely 18-metre finish at the near post.
The Reds, desperate not to succumb to what now appears a certain wooden spoon, soon wrested control and gave their hosts several almighty scares that would have yanked them ahead but for Paul Izzo’s sensational form.
The Mariners custodian made a superb save with his legs in first-half injury-time to deny Ben Garrucio.
The young gloveman stayed alert straight after the break to thwart a glancing header from A-League starting debutant Mark Ochieng.
And even after going down and dazed with a split lip when Sergio Cirio pinged a shot at his face, Izzo continued to keep his side in the game.
The miraculous recovery from an initial concussion concern prevented what would have been an A-League first in both keepers being replaced due to injury.
Adelaide continued the hunt for an equaliser but the result was put beyond doubt with Appiah’s devastating burst of speed in the 79th minute.
The 24-year-old burned two Reds with ease as he blazed down the pitch and crossed to fellow substitute Josh Bingham, before burying the ensuing deflection with a first-time finish.
j binnie
Guest
Bob - You see it,I see it, bit apparently there are others in high places who don't see it. That's the root of the problem. Cheers jb..
Bob
Guest
They only bought the games down here to Canberra on the back of hefty subsidies from Capital Football and the ACT Government. The crowd was nowhere near the 5K they reckon for the A-League game - more like 3.5K max - a really disappointing effort from Canberra based fans of football, but no surprise. There is no affinitiy or loyalty to a team based 4 hours away.
j binnie
Guest
Recent weeks have proved something that has been going on unabated for at least the last 3 or 4 seasons is a total failure. The policy (is it an FFA policy?) of playing "home" games,sometimes hundreds of k's away from the normal "fan base" Recent weeks have seen this practice cough up some terrible attendance figures which ,whether we like it or not,reflect on the overall "attractiveness" of the game.. Lets look at Mariners, this season alone they have pulled 3 x 11,000+ gates when playing at home, They have also had to play games in Coffs Harbour and Canberra ,under the argument that they are taking the game to other areas but in those 2 games,in recent weeks,despite a mini revival in form, they have registered 2 gates of 5,029 and 7,205. For an identity struggllng to attract a regular clientele this could be described as "commercial suicide". Across the ditch,Wellington have embarked on a similar strategy and the blunt truth is, it is just not working,their average gate for the season after 10 home games played is 6,327. Now their is ample evidence that these 2 clubs have been "struggling" for some time now ,and this year's average home gates ,when compared to last season's figures are not reflecting "hope" in these strategies, This year after 10 home games Wellington are averaging 6,327, last year after 10 home games they were averaging 8,353. This year after 10 home games CCM are averaging 7,758, last year after 10 home games they were averaging 8,726. Now to add fuel to the fire ,the average gate for the HAL after 90 games played is 13,098 Last season after 90 games played the average was 12.381,therefore this year has shown an increase over last year of 5.5%, this, despite these negative figures calculated above for 2 of the teams.Surely it must be obvious to those decision makers in the HAL that this trend cannot be allowed to go on unattended. The differential across the league is now standing at Victory with an average of 24,036 attending games down to Wellington with an average of 6,327. Convert those figures into income revenue and the results are totally frightening for the long term well-being of the competition. jb.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Attendance: 5,029 (includes the W-League semi final which followed).