Central Coast Mariners’ 6-1 humiliation of Melbourne City was a reminder that no matter how incompetent the game’s administration is, football always finds a way to bounce back.
Fresh from watching Adelaide United’s Carl Veart being named Coach of the Year last week, Nick Montgomery made the A-League look stupid once again.
Montgomery was ruled ineligible to win Coach of the Year – which is apparently a ‘best and fairest’ award – after he was sent off for allegedly stepping outside his technical area in a 1-1 draw with Wellington Phoenix last February.
Not to worry. Montgomery put the Australian Professional League’s grinding bureaucratic buffoonery behind him to win the one that really matters with a truly astonishing take-down of the richest club in the league.
And just like every one of the Central Coast’s biggest wins this season, this one was no fluke.
We got an early sense of what was coming in Saturday night’s scintillating grand final when Marco Tulio played in Jason Cummings on the break, only for City goalkeeper Tom Glover and the retreating Curtis Good to do just enough to prevent the opener.
If it was an early warning sign, the grand final ‘hosts’ failed to heed it. The Mariners took the lead on the 20 minute-mark when Cummings kept his cool to convert another quickfire counter-attack at the second attempt.
And they were at it again barely 13 minutes later when Sammy Silvera skipped past a flat-footed Nuno Reis and arrowed his skidding drive straight into the bottom corner.
(Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
It was a classic one-two punch from a team that has attacked from the outset in every finals game this season, yet City responded in kind when Jamie Maclaren set up early substitute Richard van der Venne to volley home five minutes before the break.
And while the premiers looked like they might find a way back into the match when they threw everything at the Mariners after the restart, the complexion of the game changed again when Montgomery introduced substitute Jacob Farrell just after the hour mark.
Brought on to provide some extra physicality at the back, Farrell’s first act was instead to win a penalty when he nipped in ahead of Andrew Nabbout inside the box.
Cummings stepped up to calmly roll the ball into the bottom corner, and he completed his hat-trick – and overtook Daniel McBreen to break the Mariners’ single-season goal-scoring record in the process – with another spot-kick less than three minutes later.
It was no less than a City Football Group that was happy for the APL to sell Grand Final hosting rights to Sydney deserved.
How different would the outcome of the decider have been had City not given up hosting rights and willingly thrown away home-ground advantage?
The Mariners haven’t won at AAMI Park since 2014 and lost to both Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory at the venue this season.
And the City Football Group’s willingness to trade hosting rights for a paycheque came back to haunt them in the most embarrassing fashion when the Mariners turned the screws and added two more goals at the death.
Beni N’Kololo’s header was an absolute peach and no less than the flying Frenchman deserved on the night, while substitute Christian Theoharous almost butchered the chance to score a sixth before the ball ultimately broke to fellow substitute Moresche, allowing the Brazilian to side-step the despairing Good and drill the final goal into the far corner.
The 6-1 annihilation made a mockery of a Melbourne City side that has now lost three out of the last four straight Grand Finals, and provided a timely reminder of what it is that makes the A-League great.
And that’s the football – not the administration.
With man of the match Jason Cummings heading off for a lucrative stint at Indian giants Mohun Bagan, the Mariners couldn’t have given their Edinburgh-born cult hero a better send-off.
And another fractious A-League season got the ending it deserved. Not because of the game’s administrators, but in spite of them.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Ss - sorry missed your response as I’m in europe enjoying a break from cold mornings etc! I totally accept that the best way to do fixtures is home and away alternately and generally in the Uk that is adhered to although it changes in the lower leagues whose fixtures are often moved to accommodate policing requirements in the EPL and sometimes the championship. However, my point was more about the distance a team has to travel and whilst the uk is less than a 7th the size of NSW, they also don’t fly to many places so there are hours on congested motorways etc and a team like Plymouth does a whole load more miles than a London based side in the same division. The argument has merit but doesn’t detract from the mess made of fixturing in the A League but that is also influenced by ground sharing and availability.
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
Well, this demonstrates how all sections of the football community are not pulling in the same direction and why are game is so fractured. That NPL match should have been cancelled so that people can watch the Aleague GF.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
i had better things to do at the same time, like watch a local sa npl team play
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
missing the point completely, they play home, away, home, away - which is the whole point eg they play in plymouth, next week london, then plymouth, next week southampton, then plymouth, next week newcastle
Grem
Roar Rookie
We all live in the home of Australia. That means AU are playing at home each game, except for Wellington, but NZ was nearly and is often considered, a state of Australia! Adelaide have it too easy!
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Well if you used north connex - which makes a world of difference your tolls would have been up there with the best!
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I have friends who support Plymouth Argyle - won Div 1 in Uk this season. They don’t complain about the fact they have the furthest to travel - 300 miles from London and don’t have the sort of budget to go by air. They just get on with it. In the EPL you have Brentford, Fulham, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, West Ham, Tottenham and Arsenal - that’s a third of their away games in London- I have never heard anyone argue that it is unfair or are we going to qualify the argument by adding a minimum distance to travel?
Stevo
Roar Rookie
City in the coming Asian Champions League. If you thought 6:1 was a thrashing, think again :unhappy: :crying:
chris1
Roar Rookie
Brains what did you make of the 12k TV audience in Sydney and Brisbane for the AFL? People like AR like to tell us how massive AFL is, but in reality it's small fry in 2 out of 3, biggest markets in Aus. It's like don't mention the war. I may have mentioned it once but I think I got away with it. Right AR?
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
If you want Aquilina back doesn't owning the Jets mean you can get him back whenever. Are you talking about the youth team, is it Triantis you complaining about. Having invested all the A-league game time in Mourdokatos and Natta and then letting them go maybe you got it wrong.
Todd
Roar Rookie
Agree it was great. I'm normally a union guy but had to support my local team in a grand final. So I'm actually oblivious to all the back talk about the ground, but have to say, as an outsider, it was a magnificent occasion in a wonderful boutique stadium. Very happy to have witnessed one of the most incredible halves of football in Australian history.
Garry
Roar Rookie
kick off soon - seems to be a link on Football Australia site
Garry
Roar Rookie
so Patrick is coming back after failing ? :silly:
Garry
Roar Rookie
and Man Utd :stoked:
Waz
Roar Rookie
Montgomery to Celtic is not close to being real lol. You seriously underestimate the size of the challenge that is Celtic football club if you believe that’s a thing
Para+Ten ISUZU Subway support Australian Football
Roar Rookie
"Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended a clinic for female footballers delivered by the CommBank Young Matildas players and coaching staff in Hanoi on June 4, 2023."Lost in the fog. A good reason that the APL should step up its lobbying for a Football stadium in Canberra, the Capital City of Australia, we need a home for Australian Football.
Grem
Roar Rookie
I have read or heard nothing at all. I would like to see a change, but I imagine if he was going then something would have happened by now. I’m imagining he’ll see his contract out - 1 more year?
Para+Ten ISUZU Subway support Australian Football
Roar Rookie
"Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended a clinic for female footballers delivered by the CommBank Young Matildas players and coaching staff in Hanoi on June 4, 2023." Lost in the fog. A good reason that the APL should step up its lobbying for a Football stadium in Canberra, the Capital City of Australia, we need a home for Australian Football.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
I wasn't aware of that but I don't have a problem with the finals failing if the ladder doesn't mean anything. Presently, it's little more than a guide to set up the finals.
Redcap
Roar Guru
Yes, you're right. I only thought of that after posting and for whatever reason my comment went off for approval by the politburo before publication, so I couldn't amend it to something even sillier. :happy: Any rumours about the SFC position lately, other than Talay or course?