For long-suffering fans of the Central Coast Mariners, Wednesday’s FFA Cup semi-final against Adelaide United represented a rekindling of that vision of the promised land.
That time not so long ago when the Mariners were one of the A-League’s heavy hitters, perennial semi-finalists, grand finalists and, at least once, champions.
At 1-0 up, with less than 20 minutes to play, the Mariners were looking good to take their place in the FFA Cup final against Melbourne City, a footballing version of ‘rich man, poor man’ looming large for the FFA marketing department to capitalise on.
That was until Matt Simon’s clumsy swinging arm caught the attention of the referee, as well as the mouth of Adelaide defender Jordan Elsey. Simon’s second yellow card of the night saw him trudge off the park leaving his team a player down and Elsey spitting the colour of the card Simon was ultimately issued.
It proved too much of a mountain for the Mariners to climb, as George Blackwood equalised only minutes after Simon’s departure and Riley McGree took advantage of a tired defence in the last minute to end the Mariners’ final hopes and give the FFA marketing department a harder job in promoting the final.
Alen Stajcic has made a pretty decent fist of transforming the shell-shocked basket case that was the Mariners around March 2019 when he was initially appointed to the head coach role.
(Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)
He has worked to replenish the playing roster with the most limited budget in the A-League and early indications are he has brought in a couple of gems in Sam Silvera and Ziggy Gordon. His presence seems to have galvanised Tommy Oar and Danny De Silva, who have looked sharp and keen in the pre-season and early FFA Cup rounds.
The addition of Mark Birighitti has given the goalkeeping ranks the sort of solid look that has been missing since the Mat Ryan days. But it’s the Matt with a second T that has Mariners fans feeling a little nervous.
Matt Simon is a justifiable local icon – born and bred on the Central Coast, initially signed to the club in 2006, came back after a stint in South Korea didn’t work out, let go by the club in 2015 only to secure a contract with Sydney FC, returning to the club in 2018 and given the captaincy, even though it seemed at one stage he may have played third wheel up front to Ross McCormack and a certain Jamaican who could run extremely fast.
(Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)
Events conspired to thrust Simon into a regular starting role – McCormack sustained a season-ending injury and the very fast Jamaican turned out to be a very mediocre footballer.
Simon’s seven goals in 2018-19 were achieved in typical bustling fashion but passion was giving way to frustration as the Mariners’ season crumbled like a kid’s sandcastle at high tide on Wamberal Beach. Simon kept running foul of the referees. Eight yellow cards and one red for the season is maybe something you’d expect of a tough-tackling central defender, but not the main striker and club captain.
There was no need for frustration on Wednesday. The Mariners were ahead, they looked solid at the back – not a trait fans had become accustomed to seeing in more recent seasons. Silvera, Oar and De Silva looked dangerous in the last third.
Simon had picked up a needless yellow card earlier in the game and while it may sound like hindsight, I swear I turned to a fellow fan in attendance with the thought that Matt Simon was walking a disciplinary tightrope quite a while before he proved the point. Others in the almost 6000 crowd seemed to sense it too. Maybe Alen Stajcic could have, and subbed Simon before his ill-fated challenge on Elsey.
The bigger picture is what does Stajcic do from here? Having the captain sent off in a cup semi-final while leading 1-0 with 18 minutes to play is the sort of thing that turns coaches inside-out with despair.
Simon has built up an enormous bank of goodwill with Mariners fans for his undying will and loyalty to the cause but there is the sense that the support is eroding with every wild challenge and flailing arm. Simon needs to score goals not judiciary visits to justify his place at the point of the Mariners attack.
The Mariners’ limited budget probably precludes investment in more striking talent, but I wonder if Besart Berisha’s recent free agency might have tempted Stajcic to have bent the ear of Mariners owner Mike Charlesworth for the combination to the safe, before Western United snapped up the A-League’s highest-ever scorer.
Instead, Stajcic has the Mariners highest-ever scorer. Simon’s on-field passion needs to avoid the card-collecting of recent times, lest Stajcic feel more like he’s stuck with Matt rather than sticking with him.
Brendan
Roar Pro
Can Matt Simon improve his discipline? There’s an old saying: “if you do what you did, then you’ll get what you got.” His send-off during the FFA Cup was the catalyst for the Mariners imploding. Before that, Central Coast had the game in the bag.
RealitycheckAleagueDontCareAboutTheMariners
Guest
First we will never get a genuine striker cheapsworth has been promising one for three years we were going to get a marquee striker this year I guess it's Jan now lol 2nd how bout mentioning the fact matt was robbed of a penalty to win the game 3 How bout mentioning the fact for the last four years the Mariners have been on the end of bull**** calls from the refs I could round up 3-4 big class every year that go against the Mariners every game the dud calls go against the Mariners calls that will never go against clubs like SYD Or the Melbs why because the officials have this belief the Mariners are a poor bottom of the table that don't matter as long as we look after the big clubs everyone's happy I mean that corrupt match against Bris where Stephen Lucas made sure the Mariners lost ignored two spot fouls on Matt The Roar comitted 15-16 fouls thats a fact yet the Mariners had 7 yellow and 2 reds the roar 1 yellow the ref was seen laughing after multiple calls went against the Mariners and did the aleague punish him.... Nope they punished matt for calling him a dog after sending matt off lol typical aleague I remember Bozeman and that bimbo on shootout all refusing to talk about the refs performance yet when Syd lose a 50/50 call they bang on about it for 30 mins
David
Guest
Oh you mean when Blackwood grabbed Birri to stop him getting the ball to the Mariners players no were going for a quick counter I'd of done the same thing to Blackwood
Tim
Guest
When Matt was deemed surplus to requirements, I was happy that a modestly skilled striker whose main attribute seemed to be getting the opposition and match official 'offside' was gone. At Sydney Arnie used him as a late game weapon, to upset and rile, constantly interrupt the game as they sought to close out the points. I greeted his return to the Mariners with dismay, is this really the best we can do I asked? Here we are, at the beginning of a new campaign, ever hopeful that the trauma of the previous one be will replaced with hope and a smile. But no it won't. Sure there are things to encourage us, but the captain is Matt Simon, the dictionary definition of a liability. Let's look at what happened. He won one maybe two ariel duels, when his height and perceived 'passion' should be getting him to the ball far more often. On the deck his control and passing were ordinary at best. But as usual he threw himself into challenges, usually recklessly, earning him the ire of opposition and referee alike. When a defender gave him a taste of his own medicine and the ref let it go, Matt was, as usual, incensed, how dare they! So as a great chance emerged in the box, he took the opportunity to exact revenge for the horrible wrong he'd been done. Result, a yellow, could have actually been worse and the chance is gone. From this point on it's merely a matter of not if but when he'll find a way to get a second card. I don't think there was malice in the challenge on Elsey (at least I hope not), but reckless it surely was. The ref did what he had to, the game is changed and the rest is history. I would show him the door right now, the Mariners need him like they need a 12 point EFL style points deduction. I rather watch a kid coming through, be given his chance to shine than watch any more of this.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
True. I think between Silvera, Toure, D'Arrigo, Richards they had a sum total of 4 minutes A-League experience.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
So are CCM interested?
Tezza
Guest
Back at the Brisbane Strikers scoring goals against Melbourne City :shocked:
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Yes another shameless example of the Adelaide players all rushing in trying to pretend something big happened and trying to get a red card. Not only the dirtiest team, but the team full of diving actors schooled by the master of such things Isaias.
Garry Jr
Guest
If we're going down that path, the Birighitti/Blackwood incident probably warrants a mention as well.
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Fad He put his temper before his team. Unforgivable!!!
apaway
Roar Guru
Agreed, Simon should have been awarded a penalty, don't know how the referee missed that.
Midfielder
Roar Guru
He was MOM the other night and looks free from injury for the first time in a lot while
Fadida
Roar Rookie
I've never seen anything from Oar suggesting he's good enough to start, let alone be captain
Franko
Guest
Both sides had a good sprinkling of youngsters Wednedsay night,was pleasing to see.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I don't know why Adelaide United seem to always get opposition players sent off in the FFA cup for no reason. Clear penalty not called on Simon, yet another rigged FFA cup match. It was just a standard challenge the arm was down just for some reason Elsey falls into Simon with his head low and amazingly Simon gets a yellow card. Adelaide the dirtiest team in the comp last year are continuing in their dirty ways and the joke of A-league fans ignore all this dirtiness because of the alliance between Adelaide and other fans in Sydney Fc and Matt Simon bashing.
Midfielder
Roar Guru
Personally I would make Oar captain and put Matty on the bench...
Redondo
Roar Rookie
CCM trialled Andy Pengelly earlier this year - what happened with that?
CoastalRaider
Roar Rookie
Agree on your points, good article. But this really only covers the behavioural component to his game, which you have covered very well. Just as big an issue is the performance side of his game. His style does not suit with the players now running the midfield, many times on Wednesday great breaks were made and link passes made to find that the striker was 20m behind the play. He is the starting striker for an Aleague club, and has converted 4 times from open play in the last 12 months of A-League competition. For any team, that is simply not good enough. The mariners have shown this off season that with some excellent recruiting, we have a capable backline with depth, which has all been tested due to injuries with GG and Tonjyik. We have a capable midfield with depth, probably our best Visa player didnt event play on Wednesday and we still owned the midfield with great control and creativity. There is one glaringly obvious gap in our lineup, and its currently being filled with a captain that scored as many yellow cards as goals last season, and shows no sign of improvement this year.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
There were plenty of SFC fans that were happy when he was allowed to leave as they were unhappy with GA’s late game tactics of slowing the game with the introduction of someone sent out to irritate, annoy, bruise and batter the opposition and generally be a nuisance for the last quarter of the game. It was effective, it was ugly to watch and it created a lot of ill-will towards the club and coach. Now, it seems, MS has forgotten there are other ways of playing the game and he isn’t in the same role.CCM have no need of a bully, throwing his weight around and regularly collecting cards and ultimately missing games. They need a senior player to lead the way, hold the ball,up, lay off some clinical passes for the likes of Silvera, win the ball in the air, nod it down and maybe pinch the odd goal himself. I didn’t watch replays of the second yellow card on Wednesday and watching live, it didn’t seem anything out of the ordinary, certainly nothing less than expected but reputation precedes most senior players and so the second yellow has not surprising but definitely not wanted by CCM as they try and rebuild and rekindle the interest and support from a few seasons past.
Fadida
Roar Rookie
A brainless, ill disciplined thug better suited to RL