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06Apr24
Central Coast Prevails In Top-Of-Table Clash
by Jeremy Ruane
Central Coast Mariners overpowered Wellington Phoenix 2-1 in their top-of-the-table Isuzu Ute A-League tussle watched by 9438 fans at Industree Group Stadium on April 6, usurping the beaten team on the top rung of the league ladder as they target a treble of A-League champions, Premiership Plate winners and the Asian Champions League title.
The home team enjoyed the better of the early exchanges in this closely contested affair, with Alou Kuol directing a header across the face of goal in just the third minute, upon being picked out by Max Balard's free-kick.
Seconds later, Wellington gifted the ball to Balard in their defensive third. He worked a one-two with Kuol before seeing his shot blocked then grabbed by Alex Paulsen, who was aided in his denial of the chance by the covering figure of Finn Surman.
The visitors finally mustered an attack of note in the thirteenth minute, Bozhidar Kraev getting the better of Daniel Hall on the left, only to hit a tame shot at Danny Vukovic, who was little troubled by the Wellington forward line for the majority of this encounter.
His defenders certainly helped in this regard, with Brian Kaltak providing evidence for the prosecution in the nineteenth minute when throwing himself in the way of Kraev's shot on the run, three minutes before Vukovic had to race out of his penalty area to clear the ball off the toes of the charging figure of Costa Barbarouses.
In between times, Balard directed a twenty yard free-kick round the wall but straight at Paulsen, who was beaten all ends up by a twenty-five yard free-kick from Mikael Doka in the 25th minute, only for his left-hand post to come to Wellington's rescue.
Ten minutes before the interval, Angel Torres led the charge for Central Coast, evading two challenges before working a one-two with Josh Nisbet. Scott Wootton blocked the striker's drive to safety, but Torres wasn't done with, as his delicious 37th minute angled cross to the far post proved, a delivery which Kaltak only just failed to get on the end of and turn the ball into the net.
Before the interval, Central Coast coach Mark Jackson earned the ire of referee Alex King and was booked for his misdemeanours. On the pitch, Paulsen kept out a Jacob Farrell header and a Torres drive, while Vukovic produced his first save of the contest to deny Barbarouses.
The All Whites striker came desperately close to
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breaking the deadlock inside the first sixty seconds of the second half lashing a shot narrowly wide from the edge of the penalty area having instigated the attack when releasing Ben Old down the left.
The arm wrestle nature of the contest continued, and you got the impression that a solitary goal would be enough to decide it. Come the 61st minute, the deadlock was broken by the home team, Nesbit inviting Doka to split the defence with a pass which sent Storm Roux to the by-line.
His first-time angled cross found Torres launching himself to meet it with a full length diving header, the ball thundering into the bottom far corner of the net to the delight of the natives, this being a match Central Coast had to win to edge ahead of Wellington on the table by virtue of having won more matches - a quirk of the A-League regulations introduced this season to determine the order of standings on the league ladder when teams are level on points.
Central Coast came desperately close to doubling their advantage three minutes later. Doka pounced on a poor clearance and invited Nesbit to let rip from the edge of the penalty area. His curling effort arced inches past Paulsen's right-hand post, with Doak himself going close in similar fashion soon afterwards.
Back came Wellington, a Sam Sutton corner being headed on by Scott Wootton to Barbarouses, whose looping header was hooked off the line by Torres. But the visitors weren't done for, and twelve minutes from time drew level with a sweeping move down the right, Tim Payne and Barbarouses combining to unleash Oskar Van Hattum, whose first-time cross was swept home from six yards by Old - 1-1.
Just when it seemed that parity would prevail in this top-of-the-table tussle, Central Coast clinched victory in stoppage time. Doka latched onto a loose ball in midfield and surged forward, sweeping past Kraev before unleashing a thunderbolt from the edge of the penalty area which arrowed beyond the diving figure of Paulsen and into the far corner of the net to clinch a 2-1 victory for the new league leaders.
Central Coast: Vukovic; Roux (Theoharous, 76), Hall, Kaltak (booked, 72), Farrell; Doka, Tapp (Di Pizio, 84), Balard, Torres; Kuol (Reec, 76), Nisbet
Wellington: Paulsen; Surman, Wootton, Kelly-Heald (Van Hattum, 71); Sheridan (Payne, 60),Salas (booked, 24 (Al Taay, 60), Pennington (Conchie, 71), Old, Sutton; Barbarouses, Kraev
Referee: Alex King
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