Melbourne Victory 2 Central Coast Mariners 1
Roy Hay
Melbourne Victory recorded its first win under Jim Magilton as coach, knocking off league leader Central Coast Mariners by two goals to one at AAMI Park on Friday night.
Victory went a goal down early on, but fought back strongly, though the Mariners were unlucky not take something from a high quality game.
The Mariners’ performance was quite different from their smash and grab last minute win over Melbourne Heart on their most recennt visit.
Victory started new signing Ubay Luzardo in its must win game with the league leader. Young Jimmy Jeggo also got his first start in midfield.
Daniel McBreen among the Victory
The Mariners nearly opened the scoring in the fourth minute as Patrick Zwaanswijk’s powerful header just went wide from directly in front of goal.
Archie Thompson fired a Harry Kewell cross over the bar, but the striker had been flagged offside before he made contact.
Mariners took the lead in nine minutes when 18-year-old Tomas Rogic shrugged off Jimmy Jeggo and weaved his way towards goal.
Adrian Leijer stood off him and the youngster picked his spot in side the right hand post with a clean left foot shot.
Victory’s equaliser came in the 16th minute from number 16, Carlos Hernandez.
The Costa Rican was the recipient of a pass from Maroc Rojas which he thundered in off the post.
If the woodwork had not diverted it the ball would probably have finished up in the Yarra so hard was it travelling.
On the half-hour Adrian Leijer cut down Adam Kwasnik from behind, but to much surprise he escaped without a caution.
That incident was to be recalled later in the game when another tackle by Trent Sainsbury was more severely sanctioned.
Hernandez had a great chance to add to his goal in the 42nd minute but his close range shot hit keeper Justin Pasfield on the legs and rebounded to safety.
The first half ended with the teams all square.
Six minutes into the second half Jimmy Jeggo knocked down a high ball towards Harry Kewell who promptly volleyed it with his left foot through a couple of defenders and into the net.
Four minutes later Kewell should have had a second goal but shot over from a good position.
A minute after that Hernandez set up Thompson and the striker carefully lobbed the ball over the keeper but also over the bar.
Trent Sainsbury was sent off for a wild tackle on Fabio in 62 minutes.
Afterwards it was claimed that he had not touched the flying full back, but the two footed lunge is something the referees have been instructed to penalise and it will be interesting to see what the match review panel make of the incident.
Even with ten men the Mariners kept pressing and it times it looked as if they had the extra man, rather than one less.
Danny Allsopp replaced Marco Rojas and though the big man had several good runs at goal and shots from different positions and angles, none resulted in the goal which would have given the home team breathing space.
But Victory held on, even with four minutes of extra time added on, much to the relief of the coach, who thought his team showed great character, passed well and defended well, most of the time.
The latter part of the coach’s praise caused Adrian Leijer to smile, because the message in the dressing room had probably been a little more pungent.
Graham Arnold was pleased with the way his much altered team had played.
‘We came down to Melbourne and got a late winner against Heart but I was not happy about the way we played. Tonight we played the best football and it was a great game against a good side.’
He thought young Rogic was a real prospect. He was learning and he wanted to learn. He is a wonderful talent but he ran out of legs near the end.
Victory fans in good voice
Match details
Friday, 10 February 2012
Melbourne Victory 2 (Carlos Herandez 16’, Harry Kewell 51’) Central Coast Mariners 1 (Tomas Rogic 9’)
Venue: AAMI Park
Local kick-off: 8:00pm
Referee: Peter Green
Assistant referees: Luke Brennan & George Lackrindis
Fourth official: Alex Azcurra
Attendance: 14,060
Melbourne Victory squad:
21. Ante Covic, 3. Fabio, 4. Petar Franjic, 5.Mark Milligan, 10. Archie Thompson, 11. Marco Rojas (18. Danny Allsopp 69’), 16.Carlos Hernandez (6. Leigh Broxham 86’), 17.Jimmy Jeggo, 22. Harry Kewell, 23. Adrian Leijer, 24. Ubay Luzardo,
Unused substitutes: 1 Tando Velaphi, 9. Jean Carlos Solorzano.
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
Central Coast Mariners Squad:
20. Justin PASFIELD, 2. Daniel MCBREEN, 3. Joshua ROSE, 6. Patrick ZWAANSWIJK, 7. John HUTCHINSON, 8. Rostyn GRIFFITHS, 14. Michael MCGLINCHEY (21. Sam GALLAHGER 89’), 16. Trent SAINSBURY, 17. Tomas ROGIC (9. Bernie IBINI 81’), 18. Alex WILKINSON, 23. Adam KWASNIK.
Unused substitutes: 31. Brody CRANE, 10. Adriano PELLEGRINO.
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Trent Sainsbury 63’