Central Coast Mariners are premiers of A-League Men for the first time in 12 years after defeating Adelaide United 2-0.
Heading into Wednesday night’s clash the Mariners needed just a draw to finish the regular season in top spot and deny the Wellington Phoenix their first premiership.
But there was to be no happy ending for the New Zealanders, with Jacob Farrell and Max Balard scoring goals to secure the premiers plate for the Mariners at a rain-soaked Industree Group Stadium.
It caps a remarkable campaign for the Mariners under Mark Jackson, who has kept up with Wellington all season and reached the final of Sunday’s AFC Cup.
But even if the onus was on the Mariners to ensure they wrapped up first place, it was Adelaide who began with a greater intensity.
Hiroshi Ibusuki tested Danny Vukovic early and the Mariners goalkeeper was then forced to deny Stefan Mauk from close range.
Mariners are crown premiers during the A-League Men round 25 match between Central Coast Mariners and Adelaide United at Industree Group Stadium, on May 01, 2024, in Gosford, Australia. (Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images) (Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images)
Nestory Irankunda – playing in his final game before departing for Bayern Munich – had a trademark rocket blocked by Brian Kaltak.
Adelaide were edging nearer to an opening goal but the Mariners weathered the storm and went on the attack.
Winger Christian Theoharous was making things happen and had an effort parried away by Adelaide goalkeeper Ethan Cox.
But there was little Cox could do when Mikael Doka floated in a free-kick from the left and Farrell nipped in at the back post to head in a 36th-minute opener.
Leading 1-0 at half-time the Mariners upped the ante, Brad Tapp and Doka both troubling Cox, who did an admirable job on his senior debut.
Irankunda went closest to pulling one back for the Reds, forcing Vukovic into a fingertip save.
But the 18-year-old began to become increasingly frustrated and earned himself a yellow card after lunging carelessly into one challenge.
As Adelaide seethed with referee Alex King, the Mariners were far more composed and raced down field where Balard was free in space.
With a cool finish the midfielder buried the ball past Cox in the 76th minute, securing the Mariners’ first premiership since the 2011-12 season when Graham Arnold was in charge.
Brendan
Roar Pro
Good points. The Mariners polish rough diamonds. Sydney are pretty solid though - a good mix of juniors & stalwarts. Plus, the stadium hospitality at Moore Park is very nice.
Brendan
Roar Pro
Decent points, Football Fan. All true.
Grem
Roar Rookie
I was interested in Usain as well. Sydney sign marquee imports, CCM sign imports who become marquees (and then can’t afford to keep them). The Mariners produce overseas talent as well.
Brendan
Roar Pro
Agreed. It was 100% raining. The brave fans who turned up were loyal, adventurous & were treated to silverware. What a moment.
Brendan
Roar Pro
Plus Sydney have genuine marquee signings, virtually every season. That will spike people’s interest. Call me bonkers, but even Usain Bolt got me to sit up & take notice.
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
That's 100% right. People love the big match occasion of the GF. Finishing first means you are the best and most consistent team whereas winning the league via the finals system is far more exciting and more like the UCL and WC. Is the winner of the FIFA World Cup the best team in the world necessarily? No. So many times you see the country considered to be the best team lose in the quarters or semis. That's what makes it exciting.
chris1
Roar Rookie
Nothing wrong with finals I agree. In my NPL comp my we have finals as well of course. But winning the league, as a coach, is far more satisfying for me. But the crowds, the players etc love the thrill of winning the GF. There is something magical about that day.
chris1
Roar Rookie
They do have a good squad and I think they are also a very tight knit group. You can see that. A few weeks ago I was at Valentine park where Mariners NPL side was playing. Jing Reec turns up with a bunch of his mates to watch the NPL side. I think that attitude is endemic across the squad.
Grem
Roar Rookie
I love finals and so do many others. It may just be an Australian thing, but I say that’s great. We don’t have to copy everything from Europe - we can develop our own customs too. We can also copy from other Australian codes, if their ideas work for us. The magic round, or whatever we named it, is a great idea, but it may never work for us, which I think is unfortunate. We can also have our own traditions - the floating grand final is great and should never have been changed. We also need to make more of our derbies - the F3 Derby, The Long Distance Derby, The Sydney and Melbourne ones, the NZ one next season.
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
I would like to bring up two points: 1) Can you imagine if we didn't have a finals system and had first passed the post system to determine the champion? With 11 points difference between second and third, the season would have ended months ago for 10 of the 12 clubs. There would have been so many dead rubber matches. Who in their right mind thinks that's more exciting? With a finals system 7 of the 12 teams had something to play for right up until the final round with another 2 teams up until the second or thirst last round. Is it the fairest way to decide the champion? No but it is definitely the most exciting. 2) Can you imagine if the Aleague switched to winter? People are saying the attendance was low last night (only 6k attended) due to the heavy rain and because it was a weeknight, but isn't that what will happen way more often during a winter season? And if only 6k rolled up for a premiership deciding match, how many would attend if it was just a regular match on a weeknight in driving rain? Maybe 2k? Who knows, either way, a lot less than 6k. No thank you to both first passed the post and winter. Just play all games at night during the hot months, have some flexibility in the tv deal to be able to change kick off times to suit specific situations.
338
Roar Rookie
Of course criticise the published data ! Smoking doesn’t kill people either….Looks up to date to me with info on the 27 rounds played. The Ultimate A league site has Adelaide as the 1st placed dirty team, so transfer market makes them look good by the way they allocate points for yellow to red upgrades.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
well there's half your problem if you're using transfermarket for any form of data lol that site is never up to date and has may things wrong
Leon
Roar Rookie
I think everyone got my drift. My bad. AFC Cup.
Brendan
Roar Pro
I would have loved Irakunda to stay for a final season. He’s a fantastic asset to the competition, & the crowd appreciate him.
Brendan
Roar Pro
If the Mariners win the treble, Jackson will be a wanted man. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s got his sights on the EFL Championship. His former team, MK Dons, might get promoted to EFL League One soon. They’re playing semi-finals football.
Brendan
Roar Pro
Vukovic was the hero, I’d say. Very average Mariners defence at times. They owe him a beer.
Garry
Roar Rookie
Im a little tired of this comment. They definitely deserved their position in the main premiership BUT the Finals is a whole other comp. For me the Grand Final deserved is the two best sides in the next few weeks.
Hudddo
Roar Rookie
WSW didn't have a team in day 1, and Sydney FC wasn't looking local, ofcourse the Mariners exploited this opportunity, it's why we've been competitive from the start with absolutely no history of football on the coast
Waz
Roar Rookie
Sydney have improved as a football club since losing the bling thing - possibly the best example of a Lowy Franchise finding its own path and maturing in to a proper club.
338
Roar Rookie
Mauk butchered one great chance and Vukovic denied him another before mariners even got on the sheet (though went close with Kaltak hitting the underside of the bar on 5 minutes). I wouldn’t say they were there to make up the numbers.