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Mariners over Victory A-League Season 2005-06 - Round 13 
 lost to Central Coast Mariners FC 2 (John Hutchinson 38', Dean Heffernan 74')
A depleted Central Coast Mariners had a comfortable two-goal win away to Melbourne Victory at Olympic Park on a humid Melbourne Friday evening.
John Hutchinson headed Central Coast’s opener from a Damien Brown free-kick late in the first half. Dean Heffernan put the game beyond Victory’s grasp with a blind-side run and goal with fifteen minutes remaining.
The win was all the more meritorious as three key Central Coast players were unavailable. Strikers Tom Pondeljak and Nick Mrdja, as well as influential midfielder Andre Gumprecht were missing, compelling Mariners’ coach Lawrie McKinna to create a makeshift forward line, and reshuffle his remaining resources to fill the gaps.
“They’re our three highest profile players,” said Mariners’ coach Lawrie McKinna. “We’re still plodding away with results. We just make do with what we’ve got and we don’t whinge about it.”
“Coming down here it’s not easy to get a win. We defended well, we attacked well, and we used the ball well,” he said.
It had been a dismal run of four successive home games scoreless for Victory, three of which had produced losses and was a stunning reverse from the highs of the five-nil whitewash of Sydney which had briefly put Victory atop the table.
“I thought we started off pretty well,” said an upbeat Victory coach Ernie Merrick after the game. “Then they scored from a free-kick and we fell flat. We were very poor after that.”
“We changed the midfield a little bit (in the second half), got straight back in the game. They caught us on the break, scored, and we fell flat. Too many players didn’t stand up after that,” he said.
“I have to hand it to the Mariners. They had a few players out today (but) they were up for it, they were full of running, they’d come off a few defeats. They did well.”
Victory’s brightest moments had come and gone in the first fifteen minutes. Richard Kitzbichler, who was one Victory player who never stopped running, had sent in a cross from the right after a storming run. He then squared to Daniel Allsopp at the six-yard line. Allsopp got a foot to the ball, but the attentions of defender Michael Beauchamp was enough to make Allsopp send the ball over the bar.
Shortly after, Kitzbichler this time operating on the left crossed to Allsopp at the near post. Allsopp’s flashing header went just wide.
But then Central Coast took control.
Hutchinson who learnt his football in Victoria’s LaTrobe Valley, and whose family still based in Gippsland was in the stadium to see him play - had reacted quickest to a floated free-kick taken by Brown on the right. Eugene Galekovic started to come, then propped, but Hutchinson didn’t hesitate, rising high unchallenged and deflecting the ball into the net with a casual nod.
“I was very happy (my family was there),” said Hutchinson. “I ran to them they were in the corner and celebrated with them. It meant a lot to me to score in front of my family. I’m very close to them and I’m glad they came up and watched me play.”
Victory began the second half brightly. Kitzbichler had a penalty-claim rejected by referee Ben Williams and Mariners quickly moved the ball upfield. Heffernan crossed low from the left a clever move given the drizzle-slicked surface and Galekovic was forced to dive to attempt to cut it out. The ball slipped from his grasp and required alertness from Daniel Piorkowski to scramble clear.
Matthew Osman later whipped in a low cross from the right which just eluded Brown’s lunge which surely would have brought up the second.
As it was, the second was not much longer in coming and Brown once more was the provider.
He put through a well-weighted pass into the path of Heffernan. Unaccountably, Kevin Muscat had allowed the ball to run, allowing Heffernan to speed past him and shoot beyond Galekovic silencing the home support.
“Heff is one of the best athletes we’ve got,” said McKinna. “He can run all day, and it takes good athletes to keep up with him.”
Merrick has been under sustained pressure from the Victory support to play Kristian Sarkies. The youngster had an exciting start to the season, but Merrick has been critical of the midfielder’s defensive game. Once again Sarkies had been omitted from the Victory line-up, despite being on the front page of the match-day program which profiled him in a feature article.
“Like several of our young players there’s two sides to their game,” said Merrick. “There’s a defensive side and an attacking side and we work on it at training. They come on, they get a run; they drop out, someone else gets a run. Kristian is doing well and progressing.”
Archie Thompson returned from international duty and took up a position on the bench, introduced by Merrick just after the hour. Thompson was comfortable with the decision. “Wednesday night was huge,” he said. “Obviously I was going to celebrate with the boys (which) probably wasn’t the best preparation going into (this) match two days after.”
“When the boys have been training hard all week, it seems unfair for me (just) to come in.”
A-League Season 2005-06 - Round 13 Crowd: 13,892
MATCH STATS:
Melbourne Victory FC (4-3-3)
Coach: Ernie Merrick
Yellow Cards:
Ricky Diaco 25', Eugene Galekovic 34', Vince Lia 37' Central Coast Mariners FC (4-4-2)
: Coach: Lawrie McKinna
Yellow Cards:
Matt Osman 26', Andrew Clark 46' Referee: Ben Williams Pitch rating: 8/10 Game rating: 7/10 Best Players
:
3. Noel Spencer (Central Coast Mariners) Match
Report by Alan Clark
Disclaimer: The content of this report is the responsibility of the writer. Stats are either as recorded by the writer at the game, or as supplied by FFA, or a mixture - no responsibility can be taken for their compete accuracy although we do strive for that. FFA has not this season accredited any Photographers for BOTN, so any photos used here, if unattributed, are as supplied by FFA and used by permission.
Crafted
lovingly by hand |
