Tigers secure first win of the season at the Mariners
The Central Coast Mariners Academy side played the entire second-half a man down and gave up a golden opportunity in a 3-1 loss to APIA-Leichhardt Tigers at Pluim Park – the Tigers first three-pointer of the season.
A bizarre first-half opener by newcomer Bradley McDonald was made irrelevant after three unanswered goals to the Tigers’ Bradley Bartels, Aaron Clapham and Michael Hawrysiuk.
The outcome of the match would serve crucial for both sides as three points for the home team would have seen them leapfrog their counterparts from last place, as well as surpassing South Coast Wolves in the same breath, but tonight was not their night.
A 3-1 score line is a harsh result for a side that played good football for large portions of the match, however the Tigers were too clinical and made the most of their one-man advantage.
The two newest editions to the Central Coast side, Adriano Pellegrino and McDonald, looked sharp from the get go and gave the young team plenty of go forward.
It was absolute chaos 14’ minutes in where an odd 60’’ seconds of play for both sides saw McDonald drop back to help in defence to give away a careless spot-kick to the Tigers.
The ‘go to’ man for APIA-Leichhardt’s penalty was debutant Aaron Clapham who’s unconvincing effort sent David Bradasevic early, however the shot lacked power which allowed the shot-stopper to flail his left glove in the opposite direction and make a save which was followed up by a secondary save with his legs.
The next 30’’ seconds were truly remarkable, as Pellegrino wasted no time in picking up the scraps from the penalty to race to the other end of the pitch and play McDonald who, after giving away the penalty, drilled the ball home on 14’ minutes.
10’ minutes later, the Tigers had a chance to level the wager however Bradasevic was again up to the challenge and made a diving two handed save to deny a powerful Sean Symons shot. Stephen Kayes followed up the chance with a second effort but blasted his opportunity well over the crossbar from close range.
Pellegrino’s footwork was causing issues in the middle of the park for the Tigers midfield and the Adelaide born veteran forged some crucial links with hit man Christopher Payne up front.
The up tempo match continued to deliver and the fans would only have to wait until the 28’ minute for the visitors to capitalise from the right flank, on the back of a dominant passage of play, and first-half, by Franco Parisi.
Parisi gave himself enough space to steady and cross perfectly onto the head of Bartels who neatly tucked away the chance giving Bradasevic no opportunity to save, putting the score back on equal terms.
Indeed, the match was being contested at a hectic pace but both sides showed ability to slow it down when necessary and rebuild from the back.
Half-time closed to an end with the scores level although the start of the second-half saw the Mariners drop to a significant disadvantage as skipper Jamie Lobb picked up a red card for pulling down a goal bound APIA-Leichhardt attacker 2’ minutes into the second stanza.
Despite being a man down the Mariners still pushed the final third however it was a defensive lapse that gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead as Clapham made no mistake this time and tucked the opportunity away from just inside the penalty-area on the 57’ minute.
The following 15’ minutes started to sway in the direction of the away team who mounted several attacks and aerial threats from diagonal crosses although it was an absolute belter that sealed the deal for APIA-Leichhardt.
On 76’ minutes Michael Hawrysiuk picked up goal of the match and rifled home a laser beam from 25-yards out that sailed straight into Bradasevic’s top left-hand corner.
The goal marked the end for Mariners Academy who, despite being a man down for the entire second-half, never lacked willingness to go forward.
Aaron Clapham was filled with mixed emotions after the game which saw him score a goal and miss a penalty in his first match for the club:
“That was my first game here so it was good to get a win, the boys were a bit down after the start of the season so to come in and get a win straight up was really good.
“They [Central Coast] had a couple of good players in the middle of the park and played a nice style of football with some short passing so it was an enjoyable game to play in on a good surface, so it was fun.
“Being my first game I can’t speak too much of how it was going before but it’s a good bunch of boys, we all worked hard and created a few good chances.
“I missed a penalty and they broke to the other end and scored which wasn’t ideal but we kept our head up and kept going.
“We play them again on Wednesday (Waratah Cup quarterfinal) which will be a good battle. “The hardest thing is breaking that rut which I think we have done now so hopefully we can kick on from here.”
Christopher Payne looked forward to their midweek cup clash against the same opponents:
“With Pellegrino and McDonald coming in I thought that added some flare to the team, as you could see Brad scored and it helped us a lot… It is just a disappointing result and we have to bounce back on Wednesday in the Cup.
“The way we moved the ball and the way Pellegrino got into the holes, Brad McDonald was free all the time, if we got the ball to him a bit more it could have made the difference.
“It’s hard to say after a loss but we will bounce back and get a good win this Wednesday.
“I think a few tough decisions went against us but when we went a goal down we put our heads down, we need to get that fight amongst us and keep a clean sheet, it will come.
The loss makes it even tougher for the away side to move from the bottom of the table, and could serve as a big win for APIA-Leichhardt who will look to chase down a spot in the finals.
Match Stats
Central Coast Mariners Academy 1 (Bradley McDonald)
APIA Leichhardt 3 (Bradley Bartels, Aaron Clapham and Michael Hawrysiuk)
Saturday 8th of June, 2013
Pluim Park
Referee: Jason Blackwood
Assistant Referees: Robert Klein and Steven Nguyen
Fourth Official: Karl Davies
Central Coast Mariners Academy: 20.David Bradasevic; 8.Daniel Bragg, 2.Matthew Crowell, 3.Jamie Lobb, 26.Ridge Mapu, 32.Bradley McDonald, 22.Liam O’Dell, 6.Christopher Payne (29.Daniel McFarlane 80′), 7.Adriano Pellegrino, 5.Brady Smith, 21.Dillon Vorster (9.James Monie 53’)
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Jordan Nikolovski, 28.Jed Prater
Yellow Cards: Matthew Crowell
Red Cards: Jamie Lobb
APIA-Leichardt Tigers: 1.Andrew Bazi; 15.Bradley Bartels, 2.Mark Byrnes (11.Paul Galimi 90’+2’), 12.Aaron Clapham, 3.Adel El Jamal (8.Keith Shevlin 79’), 7.Stephen Kayes, 9.Jason Oswell, 10.Franco Parisi, 4.Brendan Reilly (6.Michael Hawrysiuk 53’), 16.Sean Symons, 5.Michael West
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Joshua Symons, 21.Simon Jaeger
Yellow Cards: Michael West, Keith Shevlin
Red Cards: Nil
-By Tyson Scott
