FOOTBALL
As the Mariners prepare for this weekend’s home clash against Adelaide, there’s one name above all others creeping into the A-League spotlight and its not Craig Goodwin, or Jamie McLaren or Mitchell Duke … its Scottish import and Mariners No. 9, Jason Cummings.
On Saturday (December 31), Cummings headed in his sixth goal of the season to seal the Mariners fifth win from 10 games against, on this occasion against Melbourne Victory.
His winning goal against Victory was not an isolated event in the match – Cumming took to Victory like a wrecking ball, scoring two goals, having one disallowed by the VAR for a narrow off-side and another colossal strike from outside the box that bent late and just shaved the outside of the goalpost.
Born in Edinburgh in 1995, Cummings played for Scottish Premiership club, Hibernian, for four years and was their top goal scorer for the last three helping them to win the Scottish Cup in 2016 and a league promotion in 2017.
He then went on loan to the Rangers before for a series of seasons with Peterborough United, Luton Town, Shrewsbury Town and finally Dundee before signing with the Mariners in Australia for the 2021-22 A-League Season.
In 2020, Cummings came off the bench for Shrewsbury to net twice in a 2–2 draw with Liverpool in the FA Cup fourth round.
In 295 appearances, Cummings has found the back of the net 96 times, including his season tally of 10 for the Mariners last year and his six so far in 2022-23.
Cummings’ Australian heritage, via his mother Tracey and dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and Australia, allowed Socceroos manager Graham Arnold to select him in the Australian squad in the 2022 FIFA World Cup where he made his international debut in Australia’s opening match against France coming on as a substitute in the 56th minute.
Cummings prowess is well know in Scotland – referred to as ‘Cumdog’ (reportedly a self-titled wrestling nickname and since upgraded to Cumdingo upon his arrival in Australia) he received some rough treatment from British tabloids in prior years over his off-field antics. One journalist even suggested Cummings could have his own TV show.
More recently, Cummings caught media attention by claiming to have been snubbed in an attempted jersey swap first by Kylian Mbappe and then by Olivier Giroudin after their World Cup clash.
But there can be no doubting the extreme talent and the rigorous and business-like approach Cummings has brought to fronting the Mariners attack since his arrival, quickly building a cult following among the blue and yellow faithful for all the right reasons.
And while much was said about the Mariners inability to score this year without Matty Simon, Marcus Arena, Danny de Silva or Garang Kuol who left this week for his new assignment with EPL club Newcastle, that myth is quickly being busted by the electric left boot of Jason Cummings.
CCN