Weekend Wrap - Central Coast v Sydney FC
What a thriller!! A Christmas feast was served up by Central Coast Mariners and Sydney FC at Bluetongue Stadium in their deferred Round 15 clash.
Result - Round 15 deferred game Central Coast Mariners 4 lost SYDNEY FC 5
Game Wraps Where do you start? Goals galore, send-offs, bad injuries, great saves, desperate defending, passion, electric atmosphere; it was there in this epic encounter at Bluetongue Stadium. It-s a credit to the 17,514 that turned out, because the signs were ominous that a repeat of weather conditions that forced the postponement of this match originally three weeks ago, a few hours before the match. However the heavy rain didn-t last long and the sun came out, as the massive crowd settled in for what they thought would be a gripping and tense affair, which they got it in bucketloads.
The Mariners started off the stronger of the two, as they went in search of securing their finals spot and extend their lead at the top of the table to six points. After just three minutes, Mile Jedinak had the Mariners in front when his shot from a free kick, took a slight deflection, but in any case would still have been too strong for Ivan Necevski, making his first start in goals for Sydney FC, with injury forcing Clint Bolton to the sidelines. Sasho Petrovski should have doubled their lead three minutes later, when he was on the end of brilliant counter-attack by the Mariners, but the former Sydney striker guided the shot wide from directly in front.
But it wasn-t long before the Mariners had extended their lead, when Tom Pondeljak-s low cross to the near post was neatly tucked away by John Aloisi, his 5th goal of the season and really starting to find his mark. However as was the nature of this match throughout, the pendulum swung back to Sydney minutes later, when Mariners keeper Danny Vukovic misjudged the bounce of the ball coming out of his box to thwart Alex Brosque, the ball striking his arm and leaving Matthew Breeze little choice but to show him a red card. Sacrificing Sasho Petrovski to bring on reserve keeper Matthew Trott, the Mariners had to battle to keep their lead, with Sydney controlling possession and getting lots of balls into the Mariners penalty area and forcing many corners. Trott almost immediately had to make a flying save to deny an Iain Fyfe header.
Four minutes after the half time break, it was all level, when Trott could only parry down a shot by Tony Popovic, with Terry McFlynn on hand to smash home the rebound. The Mariners though, despite their one-man disadvantage refused the lie down and die and regained the lead, when the enthusiasm of Matt Simon, on for John Aloisi who twisted his knee, got the better of Popovic and was brought down as he was about to have a second shot at goal, after Necevski had blocked his first effort. Greg Owens made no mistake from the spot.
But the twists and turns weren-t about to stop, as the crowd sensed more goals were to come and they were not disappointed. It was Sydney-s substitutes that rose to the party, with firstly Adam Biddle getting the better of Dean Heffernan and racing into the box and slotting his shot through the legs of Trott. That was followed three minutes later by Brendan Santalab-s snap volley on the turn that rocketed into the back of the net and suddenly Sydney found themselves in front for the first time in the match.
The Mariners again refused to surrender and with four minutes to go, deservedly equalised when Adam Kwasnik kept his nerve and steered the ball home from 7 metres out. The action though hadn-t finished and in what turned out to be a nightmare injury time for the Mariners, they lost Dean Heffernan to a broken leg after he was brought down by Talay on the edge of the box. With a minute left, Sydney got the ball up the other end and a cross from the right found Santalab, whose header was goalbound until stopped by the raised arm of Kwasnik. The unlucky Mariners midfielder also got his marching orders and Talay made no mistake with his spot kick to win the match for the visitors, in what is already being hailed as the best match in the Hyundai A-League-s short history.
Highlights & Lowlights There are many highlights to mention them all, but the overriding highlight, was this was a great advertisement for the game in this country and one that will long remain in the memories of those at the ground. The lowlight was the serious leg injury to Dean Heffernan, who had raced back from his brother-s wedding earlier in the day and was due to return to give the best man-s speech. He wound up in Gosford hospital with a broken leg and has seen season finished and his probable selection for the Socceroos in the opening couple of World Cup qualifiers disappear.
Weekend Goals Tally: 9 (record number of goals for a single game)
Card Count: 5 yellows - 2 reds
Attendance/Average: 17,514 (58,082 in total for Rd 15) / 14,521 (Rd 15)
Goal of the Week There was some high quality goals with Mile Jedinak strike, Brendan Santalab-s cracking volley on the turn to name a couple. However with the three points up for grabs and the whole crowd riding on your spot kick, it takes a player with nerves of steel to get the job done. Ufuk Talay did just that and had the look of confidence when he stepped up to take the match-winning penalty, striking it firmly and giving Matthew Trott no chance.
Player of the Week Too many to mention in this classic with so many players putting in outstanding performances.
One to Watch Nicholas Tsattalios received his HSC results earlier in the week and then found himself starting for Sydney FC for the first time. The young left back acquitted himself well before being replaced on the hour as Sydney went for a more attacking line-up. Is one to look out for in the future.