Central Coast Mariners came from behind to pull off a sensational 3-2 victory over Melbourne City after having gone two goals down in the first-half, while striker Matthew Simon marked his 200th game for the club by scoring a penalty.
The visitors came into this game knowing that a win could put them temporarily on top of the table as Brisbane Roar away Melbourne Victory on Saturday night, while the visitors were licking their wounds and hoping to return to winning ways after being shown up by Perth Glory in their previous outing.
Early momentum was in favour of Patrick Kisnorbo’s men, who showed solid intent to make headway into the attacking third of the pitch. But none of their forays amounted to anything of great consequence as the hosts slowly started to grow into the game.
Five minutes in, Mariners’ wing back Jack Clisby sent in a superb cross from the left wing, but forward Marco Urena was unable to capitalise as his shot went over the target.
As the game settled into a rhythmic midfield battle with an occasional forward run from the hosts, Simon squeezed some space at the right edge of the box and sent it through to Daniel De Silva in the middle. The former Perth Glory attacking midfielder unleashed a well hit shot that produced a decent save from goalkeeper Tom Glover.
With 22 minutes having gone, City managed to make it 1-0 by scoring against the run of play. Craig Noone sent in a cross from the right that saw the home side being caught ball watching, as an unmarked Adrian Luna had more than enough time to put the ball into the back of the net with his first touch.
Only a third of the game had gone when the visitors made it 2-0. City midfielder Florin Berenguer dispossed an opponent and dribbled down the middle before sending an exceptional through ball that sliced through the home side’s defence like a hot knife through butter. Into the path of prolific forward Jamie Maclaren went the ball, and the 27-year-old cleverly dinked the ball over the onrushing ‘keeper to double the lead of his side.
A few minutes later, the hosts’ commanding centre-half Ruon Tongyik almost did the damage at the other end as he rose above everyone else and headed the ball towards goal from a set-piece. But the effort produced a strong reaction save from the goalkeeper as the chance was denied.
Five minutes were left in the first period of play when the resilience of the men from Gosford was rewarded with a goal that made it 2-1. Simon was deep in the attacking third to the left of goal, close to being crowded out by the opposing defence. But the veteran showed excellent presence of mind to unselfishly square the ball to young midfielder Jaden Casella, who had an open goal and easily put the ball away.
A little more than 10 minutes had passes in the second-half when the Mariners levelled the game to make it 2-2. Young City defender Nathaniel Atkinson was unable to step on the breaks as he failed to stop himself from running in and pushing Simon in the penalty area, and the referee immediately pointed to the spot. The veteran forward – who was wearing the armband in the absence of Oliver Bozanic – stepped up to the spot and sent the ‘keeper the wrong way to take his side level. Emotional celebrations followed as the hitman ran towards his family and celebrated with them on a momentous occasion.
With only a minute to the hour mark, defender Kerrin Stokes – who was already on a yellow card – showed some youthful overexuberance by tussling with and taking down forward Alou Kuol just outside the box. The referee promptly showed him off for an early shower as the fans gave him a fair amount of stick as he made his way into the tunnel. That was the third time in five games that the Melbourne-based club had had a man sent off.
With the wind in their sails and the supporters by their side, Alen Stajcic’s men threw what they could into a forward momentum that the travellers did well to stave off. But with just over 10 minutes left, the Mariners made it 3-2 through a moment of magic from De Silva. The 23-year-old midfielder showed great flair to dispossess Luna and send the ball to Kuol before Sky Blue man Connor Metcalfe could put a stop to the attack. The young forward – who was under a lot of pressure – promptly sent the ball back to De Silva, and the latter let loose a thunderous right-footed shot to dispatch it into the back of the net.
City threw everything they had into attack following that goal whilst running the risk of going down even further, but Stajcic’s side were starting to look nervous with a lone goal lead.
Kuol went down and stayed down during added time as visiting youngster Stefan Colakovski throught that his opposite number was trying to waste time, and appeared to yank the player up to his feet. But as this was happening, a scuffle broke out between players on both sides and the referee took a bit to get the game back under control.
Before long the final whistle had been blown, and the Mariners took all three points of go to the top of the table. As celebrations continued, Simon was carried off the pitch by his teammates in what is likely to go down as one of the more memorable moments of the A-League.
