Central Coast Mariners 0-1 Sydney FC
by Ben Carey (21/4/24)
Above: Rising star Indian Dos Santos tussles for the ball in the midfield ahead of teammate Mackenzie Hawkesby. Photo: Sydney FC.
Sydney and Central Coast Mariners produced a semi-final first leg of the highest order at the beautiful Industree Group Stadium on the waterside in Gosford.
It was a rematch of one of the most chaotic matches of the regular season that was played in Sydney back in January. The Mariners were looking to replicate that result, whereas Sydney was out to exact revenge on the shocking defeat at home.
The match began at a very high tempo, both teams playing free-flowing, attacking football. Sydney definitely had the better of the chances in the opening 10 minutes, with both Cortnee Vine and Princess Ibini coming very close to scoring. After that, the Mariners began to wrestle control of the match back, creating the better of the chances for the next 10 or so minutes. Sydney keeper, Jada Whyman, was forced to snuff out a dangerous chance from Matilda Kyah Simon at the very last moment.
Just before the half hour mark, the pressure pendulum swung back the other way. Vine found herself in the attacking third with the ball at her feet. She used her lightning-quick pace and great footwork to breeze past two defenders and run at the Mariners keeper, Casey Dumont, the hero of last week’s penalty shootout against Melbourne Victory. Vine took a good shot on goals, but Dumont made a clutch, point-blank save to deny the Matildas star.
Vine’s chance provided a wake-up call for the Mariners, who tighten up their defence again and throw a lot of bodies further up the pitch in an effort to break down Sydney’s own defences. The building Central Coast pressure resulted in a good attack that saw Whyman out of position and Simon putting a decent header on target. But Sydney midfielder, Margaux Chauvet, had positioned herself perfectly and made an incredible clearance off the line whilst falling backwards! Just moments later, Whyman was forced to make another big save. The Mariners were definitely in the ascendency.
The first half finished 0-0. Central Coast with slightly more possession and way more chances and shots on goal, but Whyman and her defenders were good enough to repel their every attack and escape the first half unscathed. That said, Sydney was also unable to break the Mariners’ defences. No wonder these were the two best defences across the regular 22-game season.
American international striker Shea Connors, came on as an injury replacement for Ibini at the start of the second half and she made an immediate impact. About five minutes in, Tori Tumeth, Vine, and Connors all combined to create absolute havoc in the Mariners box. They took shots on goal. There were blocks, parries, goal line clearances. Everything. But the Sydney trio kept recycling the ball and throwing more attacks at Dumont and her defence. Through skill, luck, or some miracle the Mariners came out of the barrage fully intact.
Sydney had tasted blood in the water, however, and they came back for more just a few minutes later. A poor pass in the midfield by Simon gifted the ball to Indiana Dos Santos who ran up the field and played an exquisitely weighted pass around the Mariners defence to Mackenzie Hawkesby, who was able to sneak it past Dumont to give her team a crucial 1-0 lead in Gosford.
The Mariners did not hang their heads or fall off in any way after conceding the goal. If anything, they went up another gear. Around the 70th minute, there were a couple of big chances created by the linkup between Isabel Gomez, Simon, and Chinese international, Wurigumula. In the most promising of the chances, Wurigumula was agonisingly close to the equaliser, hitting the top corner of the crossbar. Simon tried to hook the rebound over her shoulder but pushed it high over the goals.
The Mariners kept attacking for the remainder of regular time, and Sydney fashioned a few attacks of their own. In the first minute of stoppage time, a wonderful pivot shot from Caley Tallon-Henniker forced an astounding save from Dumont who dived to the ball and palmed it away with the tip of her outstretched glove. Sydney were able to close out the match and take a slim advantage into their home leg of the semifinal, which will be played next Saturday.
It was a truly amazing team performance from both teams. Everyone on the pitch contributed in a big way. For me this match was actually more entertaining than the Barcelona and Chelsea clash in the UEFA Women’s Champions League earlier this morning, and only just behind the epic Lyon comeback against PSG! Just goes to show the quality and entertainment value of our great league.
Teams: CENTRAL COAST MARINERS (3-4-1-2): Dumont, Martin, Karambasis, Irwin, Wardlow, Gomez, Hayward, Galic, Badawiya, Wurigumula, Simon. Substitutes: Langman, Evans, Nenadovic, Rasmussen, Trimis.
SYDNEY FC (4-3-3): Whyman, Lemon, Thompson, Mclean, Tumeth, Hawkesby, Hollman, Chauvet, Ibini, I. Dos Santos, Vine. Substitutes: Franco, Connors, Johnson, Ray, Tallon-Henniker.
Scorers: Hawkesby 54’.
Referee: Isabella Mossin.
Attendance: TBC.
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