Central Coast Mariners 1-0 Wellington Phoenix
By Ryan-Miller Woods (18/11/23)
Above: Annalise Rasmussen celebrates her winning goal for Central Coast. Photo: Central Coast Mariners.
Central Coast Mariners recorded their second win of the A-League Women’s season with a 1-0 victory against in-form Wellington Phoenix with Annalise Rasmussen scoring the only goal of the match, in what was quite a close encounter between both sides.
Early in the match, Central Coast were the ones that made opportunities for themselves with Peta Trimis’ attempt in the eighth minute being the closest that they got in that period of time. Wellington on the other hand had the majority of possession with 59.2% in the first 10 minutes.
As the half progressed Wellington passed the ball around in a manner that was really pleasant and benefitted them with their build-ups in play. While the Mariners, didn’t dominate the ball outright early, still looked good nevertheless.
In the 26th minute, Central Coast had a great chance via a through ball from Isabel Gomez that found Wurigumula but thanks to Wellington’s goalkeeper Rylee Foster with her brave keeping prevented a potential goal for the Mariners.
Bianca Galic had one of the best opportunities of the first half in the 43rd minute, as her shot from outside the box forced Foster to make a brilliant save. Galic was really impactful for the Mariners and was unlucky to have not scored from that shot.
One minute later, Macey Fraser slotted the ball to Emma Main whose eventual shot on an angle in the box was denied by Central Coast’s Courtney Newbon. Newbon was very impressive during the opening half with the saves that she made. This one in particular was a real highlight.
At the hour mark, while neither team had broken the deadlock, the way that the Phoenix and the Mariners had been playing it felt like someone was going to score sooner rather than later.
In the 69th minute, Wurigumula made a great run with the ball as she cut into the box and looked set to open the scoring but the final product saw her shot go over the bar. Unlucky for her as the run made was very promising and if the shot stayed down, would have gone into the back of the net.
Seven minutes later, Central Coast broke the deadlock thanks to Wurigumula whose cross found Annalise Rasmussen in the box as she powered her shot past Foster and into the back of the net for her first goal in the A-League Women. It was a very special moment for Rasmussen given she is from Gosford herself.
Wellington during the final two minutes of stoppage time had two very close chances for an equaliser from Manaia Elliot and Annalie Longo respectively but weren’t able to find the goal with their attempts.
Teams: CENTRAL COAST MARINERS: (4-4-2): Newbon, Martin, Irwin, King, Wardlow, Galic, Trimis, Gomez, Hayward, Badawiya, Wurigumula. Substitutes: Carmichael, Bryson, Rasmussen, Karrys-Stahl, Lobo.
Scorers: Rasmussen 76’.
WELLINGTON PHOENIX (4-3-3): R. Foster, M. Foster, Van der Meer, Barry, Davidson, Fraser, Taylor, Knott, Breslin, Main, Speckmaier. Substitutes: Edwards, Brown, Longo, Elliot, Lake.
Referee: Azusa Sugino.
Attendance: 1,654.
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