The Central Coast Mariners suffered their eighth successive loss on Sunday (March 8), losing 1-3 to Wellington Phoenix at Central Coast Stadium.
The return of Milan Djuric to the starting eleven alongside Daniel De Silva and Lewis Miller did little to elevate the Mariners’ form.
Wellington had just two opportunities in the first half hour and made both count, exposing some very lacklustre defence from the Mariners.
The first came from the in-form fullback, Liberato Cacace, latching on to a through-ball from Ulises Davilla, while the second came from UK import, Gary Hooper, who found himself with space to spare in the box before dinking the ball over Mariners’ keeper, Mark Birighitti, into an open net.
Cacace’s goal was the 19 year old’s third goal of the season in his 50th game for the New Zealand club.
Wellington’s final goal came in the 77th minute from substitute, Josh Sotirio, who also managed to slip easily in behind the Mariners’ back three.
A late goal from Jair provided some consolation to the crowd of just 3,773 long suffering fans, who otherwise had very little to cheer about.
Apart from a wayward header from Chris Harold, the Phoenix keeper was rarely troubled.
The win sees Wellington, who were coming of a bye last week, jump ahead of Perth Glory into third place on the A-League ladder.
The Mariners, on the other hand, are now five points adrift from the nearest team on the bottom, with a second consecutive wooden spoon now looking increasingly inevitable.
After eight consecutive losses, it is getting harder for Mariners Coach, Alen Stajcic, to attribute the losses each week to bad luck and near misses.
The Mariners’ defence has conceded 46 goals in 20 games, or 2.3 goals a game.
Former Socceroo, Robbie Slater, said the club had fallen to a new low point, while Mark Bosnich declared “questions must be asked” about the future of Coach, Alen Stajcic.
Others have begun to point the finger at the club owners for a lack of resources and inability to retain talented players at the club.
Stajcic remains adamant that the Mariners have been competitive and that the focus has been on developing the club’s young players for the future.
“It’s been five or six years of dwelling at the bottom … but I think we’ve finally hit a turning point this year where we are competitive.
“I know the fans don’t want to wait years, but it is a stage of the cycle where we’ve really invested in these young players and we’re trying to restore a good foundation for the club to build on, and that’s really important because there’s really no other way out of it.” Stajcic said.
Attention for the Mariners now turns to their clash on Friday night (March 13), when they take on the Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium.
Reporter: Ross Barry