The Mariners and Roar played out an end-to-end match on a hot and humid Saturday evening in Gosford where a spot in the top six was up for grabs.
Daniel De Silva looked the most likely Mariner to create a goal in the early stages, several times tearing apart the defence with his runs into the front third and precision playmaking. Solid in the midfield with him were Jacob Melling and Tom Hiariej who won numerous challenges against the Roar’s middlemen.
Mid-way through the first half, the game took a shocking turn when against the run of play, the Roar pounced on some loose passing at the back by the Mariners, Brett Holman capitalised to make it 1-0.
The game then opened up and Lachlan Wales sprung into action, racing past his defender and chipping a menacing ball into the box, which just cleared the heads of several Mariners’ attackers in the box. Soon after, Wales whipped in a clever curling corner, which eventually found De Silva who was unlucky in judging the flight of the ball only just misconnecting his shot.
Despite coming out from the sheds a goal down, the Mariners started positively and immediately began to attack the Roar’s goal. Clever interplay up front created a few promising chances though the Roar managed to hold their lead.
The game took another shocking turn when early in the second half Brisbane doubled their lead. The Mariners gave up possession cheaply in front of their own box, this time Matt Mckay made the most of it.
Going behind a second goal sprung the Mariners to life who responded with positive and aggressive play. It paid off when some individual brilliance from Blake Powell resulted in the Yellow & Navy’s first goal to get them back in the match.
Full of confidence, the Mariners took control of the game, with Jake McGing and Kwabena Appiah playing in threatening balls down the right flank which were just denied by a desperate Roar defence.
With humidity slowing the game down in the dying stages, the Mariners looked to their substitutes to break open the Roar defence and grab an equaliser. Trent Buhagiar’s fresh legs looked to have made the difference when he was found in space down the wing but his low cross was just too heavy and beat everybody.
Mariners’ keeper Kennedy made a late save to keep the Mariners in the hunt and despite some late chances to the Mariners, Brisbane maintained their lead and eventually won 2-1.
The Mariners finished the game with 10 men after Brama was shown red for his challenge on Cory Gameiro and will miss next Saturday’s home game against the Western Sydney Wanderers.
Source: Central Coast Mariners Media, January 28, 2018
NB: Central Coast Newspapers is a media partner of the Central Coast Mariners