Blacktown City deflate young Mariners in Pluim Park opener
A second-half brace to Blacktown City FC’s Travis Major, and first half opener to Raymond Miller, were more than enough to sink a deflated Central Coast Mariners Academy 3-0 in their first home match of the season at Pluim Park.
It has been a staggered start for the competition newcomers, having picked up just a point from their first five games and a mixture of bad luck against established top-flight clubs.
It was the away side who dominated the early stages of the round five clash as Matthew Mayora picked up a pinpoint through ball and sprayed his shot well over the bar in a position where he should have capitalised in the 2’ minute.
Despite missing his early chance, Mayora went on to be one of Blacktown’s top performers.
The first 15’ minutes of the match were cagey with both sides really testing one another and it was clear the Mariners Academy side were keen to pick up maximum points in their first competitive home match of the season.
Blacktown’s central defender Jacob Poscoliero had other ideas as he held his side’s structure and stringent defence that made an attack for the Mariners an even greater challenge for the entirety of the match.
Central Coast Mariners Academy picked up one of the chances of the match that was thwarted by a magnificent fully stretched Brody Crane save. Mariners’ speedster Adam Biddle ran on to a long ball and battled his way in behind the defence, his cross was on the mark and hit the feet of James Monie who steadied himself to fire away a close range shot that was handled by a top notch save.
10’ minutes later, in the 29’ minute, the away side made the most of a similar chance created by a Yianni Fragogiannis cross that was capped off by a classy Raymond Miller finish to grant Blacktown City a one-nil lead.
The Blacktown City side came into the match missing two attacking threats through suspension and tonight’s first goal scorer, Raymond Miller took to the sideline just minutes after his goal to be replaced by right wing back Keiren Paull which did not inhibit their power up front.
Blacktown were rarely exposed in the first-half but the Mariners few opportunities were falling down the right flank lead by a determined Monie, wayward final passes were the home side’s downfall.
It was in the second-half that Blacktown turned on the class, led by Mayora who jumped on the end of a cross with a spectacular bicycle kick that struck the crossbar in the 51’ minute.
Travis Major was the man who took advantage of a careless Mariners Academy defence to slot home a tidy finish from a difficult angle across the far side of the keeper in the 78’ minute.
The salt was rubbed into the wounds of Mariners Academy in the 87’ minute as Harris Gaitatzis broke into mountains of space on the right side and lobbed a perfect through ball that was controlled by the chest of Major who still had plenty of work to do. Major tapped around the defence and easily slotted home to sew up a crucial three-nil away win.
Blacktown’s Matthew Mayora was happy to pick up three points and already looked ahead to next week’s task at hand:
“It was a tough trip up but we didn’t have a very difficult week so we’ve picked up the three points and that’s what we needed to get our confidence up.
“I was pretty happy with my personal performance of just doing my old job of staying up there and doing what a striker does.
“We’re pretty pumped and in the circle just there, we have already had a chat about next week’s clash against Sutho which should be a blockbuster”
A disappointed James Monie was ready to put the loss behind him and get on with next week as well:
“We had too many boys that just weren’t on top of their game tonight, we have come back to a different Pluim Park with three perfect pitches, a great stand, great facilities and too many of the boys didn’t show up tonight.
“There’s all this talk about coming back here and maybe a few of the boys could have been over awed by the occasion but we were poor tonight and there are no excuses other than we didn’t put the effort in.
“We only got on here for the first time this week and hopefully when we train a bit more on here we can make it a bit of a fortress for teams to come up here but we have had a slow start to the season and next week cannot come around quick enough.”
It was a tough match for the Central Coast Mariners Academy who held possession in Blacktown’s portion of the pitch for a sustained amount of time in the final 15’ minutes but it was that final ball and clinical finish that eluded the home side.
Match Stats
Central Coast Mariners Academy: 0
Blacktown City FC: 3 (Raymond Miller 29’, Travis Major 78’, 87’)
Saturday 13th April, 2013
Pluim Park
Referee: Khoder Yaghi
Assistant Referees: Thomas Lee and Adam Coombes
Fourth Official: Nathan Roberts
Central Coast Mariners Academy: 1.Jordan Nikolovski; 11.Louis Bozanic (27.Dillon Vorster 71’), 21.Tomislav Cirjak, 2.Matthew Crowell, 4.Adam Jenner, 3.Jamie Lobb, 9.James Monie, 6.Christopher Payne (24.Nathan Verity 45’), 5.Brady Smith (25.Steve White 82’), 26.Mapu Ridge, 10.Adam Biddle
Substitutes Not Used: 16.Jed Prater
Yellow Cards:
Red Cards: Nil
Blacktown City FC: 1 Brody Crane; 12.Kearyn Baccus, 4.Yianni Fragogiannis, 10.Harris Gaitatzis, 5.Patrick Gatt, 6.Matthew Lewis, 7.Travis Major, 15.Matthew Mayora (18.Edosomwan Osadolor 83’), 8.Raymond Miller (17.Kieran Paull 30’), 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 20.Jacob Poscoliero
Substitutes Not Used: 16.Daniel Arujo, 14.Shane D’Cunha, 13.Blake Tuxford
Yellow Cards: 1
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Travis Major (BCFC)
2 – Matthew Mayora (BCFC)
1 – Jacob Poscoliero (BCFC)
-By Tyson Scott
