FOOTBALL
The Central Coast Mariners have come away with one point on the A-League ladder after a deadlocked draw against Perth Glory away from home, Tuesday March 15.
It was a case of desperate defence for the Mariners who were kept constantly on the back foot under a barrage of 21 shots by their hosts.
More than once, Mark Birighitti’s efforts in goal made the difference between a draw and defeat, most pertinently seen in the 18th minute with a saved penalty shot.
Jason Cummings’ obstinate knee caught the leg of ex-Mariner, Jack Clisby on his darting run into the penalty area.
Bruno Fornaroli stepped up to take the chance and shot low and hard, yet too close to Birighitti who had the strength in his right hand to palm the ball out of play.
“It brings back memories of Melbourne City days at the training ground,” Birighitti remarked at the end of the game, recollecting the half-season these two spent with the same club in 2018/19.
“He’s a great player, it’s a toss of the coin, I was lucky enough to go the right way and get a good hand on it.”
A further four shots on target again called for the goalkeeper’s hands-on attention, with more skimming the outside of the post to the relief of the struggling defence.
In attack, the Mariners were hard pressed to find assertive positions on goal.
An early chance for Beni N’Kololo was the most testing moment all game for Glory keeper, Bradley Jones, after which the majority of the away side’s possession was spent in the midfield struggle.
For Head Coach, Nick Montgomery, taking one point away from Perth with a few key players missing may have been a good, if not lucky, outcome.
“Of course, I’m happy to come away with a point, (but) I think that’s probably our worst performance of the season.” Monty said.
“(In the) first half we were unacceptable, I told the boys at half time that the good thing is we can’t play any worse than we’ve just played.
“So many times this year we’ve been the better team, we’ve outplayed teams, we’ve played really well and come away with nothing, so I think over the course of the season we were due a little bit of luck.
“We had to make quite a few changes, leaving boys behind due to circumstances from the border which is out of our control.
“We knew the rules and regulations in terms of not having the booster … I’m not going to force anyone to get a booster jab just to travel to Perth and play a game, I totally respect their decision.”
The Mariners are now preparing for their upcoming match against the Macarthur Bulls, to be played on Saturday, March 19 at Glen Willow Stadium in Mudgee.
The regional location for the fixture was organised as part of an extended relationship between the Mariners and Mid-Western Regional Council with the aim of boosting football’s growth in Mudgee and making the most of the stadium’s professional grade facilities.
Haakon Barry