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Latest Auckland FC match report
Reigning Champions Hold League Leaders
by Jeremy Ruane
For previous 2024-25 match reports, go here and click on the date
Reigning Isuzu Ute A-League champions Central Coast Mariners held Auckland FC to a 2-2 draw in front of 14,040 fans at GoMedia Mt. Smart Stadium on March 16, the third successive draw experienced by the league leaders as they continue to stumble towards the finishing line and the reward of the Premiership Plate for winning the primary phase of the competition.
The visitors were first to flex their attacking muscles, Alfie McCalmont directing a third minute volley straight at Alex Paulsen after Brian Kaltak had released Lucas Mauragis into acres of space on the left.
Auckland's response came five minutes later, with Felipe Gallegos unleashing the overlapping Hiroki Sakai down the right. His cross struck the offside Jesse Randall in front of a gaping goal - suffice to say, Auckland's captain was not best pleased with the young striker's squandering of a great chance to open the scoring.
Within sixty seconds, though, the home team were in front, this time via a left flank raid featuring Jake Brimmer, an incisive Neyder Moreno pass which rewarded Randall's well-timed run - he clearly learnt his lesson quickly! - and a chipped cross which invited Guillermo May to head home from six yards. 1-0 Auckland, to the delight of "The Port" fans at the opposite end of the pitch.
The league leaders looked to build on their lead, Moreno unleashing a thirty yarder which swerved narrowly over the top far corner of the net, before a delightful seventeenth minute move saw Brimmer and Gallegos combine to play in Francis de Vries down the left, from where he delivered a gem of a cross to the far post which took out three opponents, but which wasn't capitalised upon by Randall.
Seconds later, another inviting cross from de Vries had Logan Rogerson as its target. He laid the ball off to May, who evaded a challenge but then took one touch too many instead of shooting - chance squandered.
After weathering this pressure, Central Coast gradually dragged themselves back into the contest, the first sign of their emergence materialising in the 26th minute, when Christian Theoharous and Mauragis combined on the left. The fit-again Dan Hall raced across to shut down the threat, but the visitors sensed there was more for them in this match, and looked to exploit that flank again six minutes later.
This time, Paulsen gobbled up Mauragis' cross intended for Alou Kuol, who was fighting a lone battle as Central Coast's central striker. Lurking in behind him was Theoharous, however, and he twice went close to levelling the scores as the half entered its final ten minutes.
The first opportunity materialised after Mikael Doka made in-roads down the right and drove in a low cross which picked out Theoharous near the penalty spot. His instinctive rising drive was superbly turned to safety by Paulsen, who looked on with relief soon after as Theoharous' thirty yard rocket narrowly cleared the crossbar.
Auckland finally got back on the front foot in the shadows of the half-time whistle. May made progress down the left before licking to pick out Randall on the far post, but Mauragis' intervention meant that fortieth minute raid went unrewarded.
Five minutes later, Brimmer and Randall - a lovely round-the-corner pass - combined to play May in through the inside left channel in the penalty area, only for Dylan Peraic-Cullen to save solidly at his near post, albeit at the expense of a corner.
Brimmer's delivery was a gem - right in the zone, so how Rogerson contrived to head the ball across the face of goal when all he had to do was nod it in defies logic. Mind, if he'd scored, the Video Assistant Referee will likely have ruled it out, as the winger threw an opponent to the ground before missing this sitter.
The visitors hit the ground running in the second half, dominating proceedings in the early stages as
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they sought an equaliser. Only Hall's vital challenge in the 52nd minute prevented Kuol from getting it, Doka having released Vitor Feijao down the right, from where he looked to reward Kuol's near post run.
Randall fired over and Moreno shot at Peraic-Cullen as Auckland mounted rare raids in response to the visitors' pressure, with Central Coast again going close in the 58th minute. Doka and Feijao worked a one-two on the right which saw the playmaker dart into the penalty area, only to be closed down by Tommy Smith, with Theoharous and McCalmont anticipating a pull-back.
Three minutes later, another right flank one-two twixt Doka and Feijao resulted in the former driving to the by-line before pulling the ball back, only to direct it straight to Brimmer. But the visitors kept on coming, Smith heading a Doka cross-shot to safety after he was released down the right by Trent Sainsbury, with Kaltak heading past the far post from the resulting corner.
Auckland coach Steve Corica made some changes in a bid to change the course the game was taking, and the newly introduced Marlee Francois and Cameron Howieson teamed up via a one-two in the 66th minute. The Australian youth international cut in and let fly, but the covering figure of Nathan Paull did enough to divert his attempt to safety.
Paull stepped in again two minutes later, this time foiling Francois as he raced through from halfway. It was the signal for Central Coast to step things up once more, and in the 71st minute, they were rewarded with a deserved equaliser.
Mauragis picked out Theoharous, whose close control and superb turn on the run in the centre of the park took out two opponents, and opened the door for a pass into the stride of the overlapping wingback.
Mauragis' cross to the far post wasn't attacked by de Vries, who waited for it to come to him - a fatal mistake, as proven by Feijao, who stormed in to direct a bullet header past Paulsen from six yards to level the scores.
Roused by being pegged back, Auckland were quickly on the front foot, and after de Vries had seen Peraic-Cullen grab his twenty-five yard free-kick, he delivered another, from further out, to the far post in the 78th minute. Sakai headed the ball down, and the recently introduced Callan Elliot hit an absolute screamer on the volley which stormed between Peraic-Cullen and his near post before crashing into the roof of the net! Unstoppable!
Auckland hoped that, having regained the lead, they'd be able to see out the match and edge three points closer to a maiden title in their maiden season. But the reigning champions had other ideas, and as the game moved into stoppage time, snatched an unlikely equaliser to earn a share of the spoils.
Sainsbury brought the ball out of defence before linking with McCalmont, who played the ball into substitute Nicholas Duarte. He turned it wide to fellow replacement Abdelelah Faisal, whose low cross struck Howieson and ricocheted towards another substitute, Miguel di Pizio.
At full stretch, he couldn't get enough power on his shot, but there was enough to allow Sakai to block it. The ball ricocheted off him to Duarte, who headed in the equaliser via the now prone Auckland captain to give Central Coast a deserved share of the spoils, Auckland having not done anywhere near enough to win this contest, which sees their lead at the top reduced to four points with six rounds remaining.
Auckland: Paulsen; Sakai, Hall, Smith, de Vries; Rogerson (Toomey, 90), Brimmer (Elliot, 72), Gallegos. Moreno (Francois, 61); Randall (Howieson, 61), May (Bidois, 90)
Central Coast: Peraic-Cullen; Kaltak (booked, 77), Salisbury, Paull; Doka (Roux, 83), McCalmont, Eames (Steele, 83), Mauragis; Feijao (Faisal, 83), Kuol (Duarte, 77), Theoharous (di Pizio, 72)
Referee: Adam Kersey
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