Mariners Academy stuns Blacktown City in shock of the round

It was one of the great matches and, were it not for Sydney United Sports Centre’s new synthetic surface, it would not have happened.
With Lily Homes Stadium out of action, Sydney United hosted this Round 16 clash and those who were there will be thankful for that.
The struggling Central Coast Mariners Academy eventually prevailed in an eight goal stunner, five of which were scored in the first-half. 
Jed Prater’s first goal of the night had given the Mariners Academy an unlikely lead, but a Sean Rooney brace of his own, the first from the spot, had Blacktown City back in front. 
A superb counterattacking goal from Bradley McDonald and then finally, a joyous free-kick from Chris Payne brought the first-half to a close, before Prater’s second-half tap-in and Matthew Crowell’s finish saw the Mariners Academy home, despite a late scare when Harris Gaitatzis pulled the score back to 4-3.
Many are still catching their breath after a rollicking 90′ minutes that saw some of the most open football seen this season.
End-to-end, it certainly was. Both coaches were probably tearing their hair out as both sides looked likely to score each time they had possession and for Mark Crittenden, the match will not make pleasant viewing. For Mark Jones, a win is credit to his fine work thus far and reward for the way the Mariners Academy play their football.
For the spectators, it was a match that could have gone on forever.
It all started as early as the 8′ minute, when Brody Crane’s error of judgment allowed Jed Prater to give the Mariners Academy a shock lead.
Crane came out for a cross that he was never going to reach and Prater was on hand to head home.
It took just a minute for Blacktown City to equalise and with that, the tone of the match was set.
Sean Rooney was brought down in the area and referee Adam Susz had no problem awarding a spot kick.
Rooney showed nerves of steel to calmly roll the ball down the middle to level the scores.
The Blacktown City forward has been in sparkling form this season and he was in particularly good touch this evening.
Just 10′ minutes after opening his account, he doubled it. Rooney rarely misses one-on-one and he didn’t this time, slotting past David Bradasevic to put Blacktown City ahead.
They should have been out of sight, when 10′ minutes later, Rooney again found himself one-on-one with the Mariners’ shot-stopper. This time though, the Mariners Academy ‘keeper came out on top, making an excellent block save and one that that, given the way the match panned out, was critical in the Mariners Academy’s victory.
Instead of being 3-1 up, Blacktown City was pegged back to 2-2 when Bradley McDonald scored 2′ minutes before the break.
It was the start of a hectic 3′ minute period which saw the Mariners Academy go from a goal down, to a goal ahead, and they did so in some style.
Bradasevic plucked a corner out of the air with confidence, before rolling the ball out to Crowell. McDonald had made a superb run to his right and Crowell showed great vision and poise to pick him out on the run and McDonald did likewise, finishing easily past Brody Crane.
Crowell was one of the match’s outstanding performers and it was fitting that he would have the final say.
The Mariners Academy would probably have taken level scores at the break, but to their amazement, and that of those present, they would take a lead into the sheds.
Adriano Pellegrino’s class stood out from the outset and a mazy run in first-half stoppage time, ended with him being upended mere inches from the edge of the penalty-area.
Payne and Louis Bozanic stood over the ball but it was the former Sydney FC man who swept a perfect curling free-kick past the flying Crane and into the top corner.
It was a comeback to behold from the plucky Mariners Academy and any hope of a Blacktown City comeback was extinguished by Prater’s second goal in the 67′ minute.
Crowell’s corner was volleyed into the mixer and Prater showed the importance of timing, arriving to touch home his second and the Mariners Academy’s fourth of a game for the ages.
With a 4-2 lead the Mariners Academy still flooded forward at every opportunity with Pellegrino, Crowell and Payne at the heart of proceedings.
Blacktown City found a lifeline though when, 8’ minutes from full-time, they found their third and the game’s seventh.
The ever-present Matt Lewis crossed from the left and there was Harris Gaitatzis, leaping high to head home with the aid of a deflection.
Hopes were raised as the Blacktown City faithful sensed a comeback.
Crowell though, had other ideas and thanks to some outstanding work from Payne, found himself in prime position to score the game that finally put this humdinger of a game to bed.
Blacktown City coach Mark Crittenden was terribly upset by his team’s display:
"You can’t take anything out of that sort of game," he said.
"There was a lack of intensity and a lack of desire, and we spoke about that before the game.
"We said that they’d be energetic and full credit to them. They did really well.
"I might make them watch the video during the week. It’ll let them feel how I’m feeling.
"I won’t sleep tonight. I’ll play the whole game again in my head, going through lots of different scenarios. It’s what you do as a coach, I guess.
"You can’t just sweep it under the carpet, because it wasn’t good enough.
"In fact, it’s nowhere near good enough.
"It’s embarrassing," Crittenden said.
Central Coast Mariners Academy coach Mark Jones was extremely pleased to get a valuable three points, despite the concession of three goals:
"It’s good to win!" Jones smiled.
"We still had to score five to win, but we got there.
"We concede soft goals and we’re trying to fix that.
"It’s frustrating, you see we play good football and we’ve got some good young boys in there, but we need to tighten our defence.
"In terms of attack and playing possession based football and all the things the FFA are pushing out with the National Curriculum, I think we do sensationally.
"It puts our young boys in a great position to play at a higher level and that’s what we’re all about," Jones concluded.
Match Stats

Blacktown City FC 3 (Sean Rooney (pen) 9′, 19′, Harris Gaitatzis 82′)
Central Coast Mariners Academy 5 (Jed Prater 8′, 67′, Bradley McDonald 43′, Christopher Payne 45’+1′, Matthew Crowell 83′)
 Sunday 30th of June, 2013

Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park
Referee: Adam Susz
Assistant Referees: Andre Giev and Alex Long
Fourth Official: Tim Turner
Blacktown City FC 1.Brody Crane; 3.Andrea Del Brocco, 4.Yianni Fragogiannis, 5.Patrick Gatt (C), 6.Matthew Lewis, 7.Travis Major, 8.Raymond Miller (15.Matthew Mayora 71′), 9.Ryuji Miyazawa (12.Kearyn Baccus 60′), 10.Harris Gaitatzis, 11.Sean Rooney 19.Zachary Cairncross
Substitutes Not Used: 13.Blake Tuxford; 17.Luke Clifford, 20.Jacob Poscoliero
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Central Coast Mariners Academy: 20.David Bradasevic; 2.Matthew Crowell, 3.Jamie Lobb (C), 5.Brady Smith, 6.Christopher Payne (39.Dylan Holz 87′), 7.Adriano Pellegrino (18.Dean Caletti 81′), 11.Louis Bozanic, 16.Jed Prater, 23.Bradley McDonald, 24.Nathan Verity, 26.Ridge Mapu
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Jordan Nikolovski; 9.James Monie, 22.Liam O’Dell
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
-By Matthew Connellan