Football
Five unanswered goals went the way of Sydney FC against the Mariners at Central Coast Stadium on Saturday evening, April 9, torpedoing the local club’s chances of playing finals football in 2022.
After a 5-0 win mid-week against Wellington Phoenix, and a 4-0 loss for Sydney against Melbourne City, the weekend loss by Mariners in Gosford has left the blue and yellow still three points adrift of the top six, while boosting Sydney FC into fourth position.
In a night for the Mariners to forget, a 1-0 half time deficit quickly snowballed with Sydney posting three more in the space of ten minutes, then a final goal in extra time.
Early enthusiasm from the hosts went unrewarded despite a number of good chances early against the Sydney defence out wide.
Clever footwork of Lewis Miller and Beni N’Kololo brought attacking chances from the wing but the connection to the final shot taker went missing.
Sydney managed to withstand these attacks and responded at the other end with an opening goal, scored by Adam Le Fondre in the 28th minute.
Undeterred, the Mariners maintained their energetic play, often finding themselves in the penalty area only to be outmatched by Sydney’s centre defence.
Prior to half-time, their closest chance was earned by N’Kololo from outside the box thudding the ball against the top corner of the post.
The beginning of the second half brought a strong return from the Mariners with sustained attacking pressure and more unrewarding shots, yet it was the visitors who again found the net.
A hat-trick for Fondre and a goal for Anthony Cáceres all came between the 53rd and 59th minute, dissolving the Mariners’ chances from difficult, to desperate, to undone.
Sydney’s ability to connect from out wide to the shot taker in the box ultimately set them apart, capped off with a final goal for Bobo in the 94th minute.
The sobering result has ended a seven game streak without a loss for the Mariners, who will will need to find form again quickly.
“We just didn’t turn up tonight,” Head Coach Nick Montgomery said at the close of the game.
“You can’t afford to carry six or seven players that are off performance against a team that had every single player on form – I think if they mis-kicked it, it would probably have gone in the goal.
“Our message to the boys is ‘well done, you’ve been on a fantastic run, tonight was a little blip’, most clubs have had a little blip in the last couple of weeks due to all sorts of circumstances.
“It’s nice to know we have a couple of games in hand, but unless we win them it doesn’t mean anything, so we take it on the chin tonight and move on.”
Haakon Barry