The Central Coast Mariners have forced Melbourne Victory back to the drawing board with a 2 – 1 win at home in Gosford on New Year’s Eve.
Over 10,000 locals, many of them families flocked to Industree Group (Central Coast) Stadium for the 7 pm match against the embattled Melbourne A-League team, after the dramatic fan violence of two weeks back.
The game was also a send off to one of the local team’s most popular players in young Garang Kuol, who now leaves for the English Premier League club Newcastle United FC.
Though it was a Mariners’ import from Scotland who became the evening’s hero in Jason Cummings.
Cummings scored in the 11th minute with a classic header from a beautiful cross from Strom Roux.
Then in the 19th minute, Cummings scored again, but the fan frenzy turned sour when a VAR decision disallowed the goal well after the scoreboard showed the point.
The Mariners maintained their assertive play and easily looked the more commanding of the two teams.
Yet, then in the 39th minute, Cadete the Spanish winger booted a bender with his left foot, curling it back into the top left of the net for an equalizing goal before halftime.
The Mariners’ lead was restored in the 53rd minute by Jason Cummings who was on a mission to restore his previously nullified goal.
Garang Kuol also featured prominently when the striker was felled in the box and awarded a penalty, later to be denied by a VAR decision again.
The Mariners then focussed on a disciplined defence of their lead until the final whistle. The result pushed the smallest club in the competition into second place on the ISUZU-Ute A-league ladder.
The next game on Friday evening in Gosford against an in-form Adelaide United is the next challenge for Head Coach Nick Montgomery’s young die-hard team.
David Abrahams