Melbourne Victory 2-1 Central Coast Mariners
By Kieran Yap (26/11/23).
Above: Kurea Okino, left celebrates after scoring her first goal for Melbourne Victory. Photo: MVFC Twitter.
A late goal from Mackenzie Weinert has secured Melbourne Victory a 2-1 win against the Central Coast Mariners in a close contest at The Home of The Matildas.
The subplot to this encounter was the return of Casey Dumont to the A-League Women. The Victory legend signed for Central Coast following a stint in the AFLW and has spoken in the media about her exit from Melbourne being less than acrimonious. That she is back in The Dub once again is great news for Australian football, that it was against her former team was an occasion with the potential to make headlines.
Of the two keepers, Dumont had the quieter first half, but her defence was busier. Lydia Williams was forced into two good but comfortable saves from Izzy Gomez and Wurigumula. Victory were moving the ball marginally better out of the two teams but looked hesitant in the final third. Rachel Lowe looked the most likely but had her shots blocked by a deep-sitting Mariners defence.
The Mariners have looked right at home immediately in this league and were up to the task organizationally and physically against Victory. However, the combination of Elise Kellond-Knight and Alana Murphy grew more comfortable through the first half and Jess Nash found lots of space on the right, as the home side started to probe.
It took until the 60th minute for Victory to break through the stubborn Mariner defence. Murphy hit her corner deep to the back post where Tori Hansen nodded toward goal. The Mariners were well positioned to block it but Kurea Okino turned well to lash the ball into the goal from close range.
Okino arrived at Victory amid much hype following an NPLW Victoria season where she scored more than 30 goals. She has taken a few weeks to adapt to the next level, but this was a goal that showed to rest of the competition that her instincts remain undiminished. The goal capped off one of her best displays for her new club. Okino was mobile in attack and excellent in linking play from central areas.
She created Victory’s best chance of the game in the first half with a good cross that Weinert almost turned in.
The celebrations were buoyant but short-lived. The Mariners hit back just over 10 minutes later. Wurigulmula turned Hansen skilfully and played a through ball into the path of Faye Bryson who took it in her stride and finished off the slick move with a side-footed finish past Lydia Williams to make it 1-1.
With the game in the balance, Victory made changes. Ella O’Grady entered the game and Paige Zois was brought on with 10 minutes to play. Despite this, Victory still struggled to create clear-cut chances. The Mariners centre-back pairing of Taren King and Ashley Irwin were rarely found out of position. They stayed goal side of any Victory players and it was always going to take something special to find a winner.
Weinert delivered that in the first minute of added time. The ball into her path was cut off, but the ricochet bounced up between her and the onrushing Dumont. Weinert combined a delicate touch with her trademark tenacity to get to the ball and loft it into the back of the net to make it 2-1.
Victory sat deeper for the remaining minutes, content to launch long balls to nowhere and run down the clock. When the whistle blew it was enough to push them into the top four and it may be turning point in their season.
With a starting 11 featuring six new faces, and a bench with an average age of 19, this was an important win. The two goals were scored by new signings in attack, and the young substitutes were able to close the game out professionally. Okino played perhaps her most complete and confident game since arriving from the Boroondara-Carey Eagles and the goal has silenced some of the creeping doubts about if she could deliver in the A-League Women.
Central Coast were as competitive as always. There is a lot to admire about this team, but currently not enough to fear. They looked dangerous on the counterattack for most of this match, but if they can start to control parts of the game as they did against Adelaide United, they will be a much more challenging side.
They were beaten by a moment of class late in this game but frustrated Victory for the majority of it, this was a strong performance from the visitors.
In the end, the day belonged to Victory. They started the season slowly, but are now unbeaten in their last four matches. There is still plenty of football left in this season, and Jeff Hopkin’s team is just getting started.
Teams: MELBOURNE VICTORY (4-3-3): Williams, Nash, Morrison, Hansen, Rankin, Kellond-Knight, Murphy, Lowe, Goad, Okino, Weinert. Substitutes: Templeman, D’Appolonia, Zois, Briedis, O’Grady.
Scorers: Okino 60’, Weinert 90+1′.
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS (4-4-2): Dumont, Wardlow, King, Irwin, Martin, Galic, Trimis, Gomez, Bryson, Wurigumula, Badawiya. Substitutes: Hayward, Newbon (GK), Lobo, Karrys-Stahl, Rasmussen.
Scorer: Bryson 71’.
Referee: Asaka Koizumi.
Attendance: TBC.
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