Perth Glory 0-1 Central Coast Mariners
Report by Ben Gilby, EXCLUSIVE photography from Rob Lizzi at HBF Park (27/12/24)
Above: Central Coast Mariners celebrate Jade Pennock’s late winner. Photo: Rob Lizzi for Impetus.
Jade Pennock’s goal with five minutes remaining sealed an excellent win for Central Coast Mariners at HBF Park today in a game that was largely dominated by the defences.
Whilst Perth came close on several occasions, and were generally very well organised at the back, they paid the price for a momentary lapse to allow the English attacker in to claim the points for the visitors.
Glory boss Stephen Peters made three changes from the starting line-up that drew with Western Sydney Wanderers last Friday, with Izzy Dalton, Nat Tathem, and Tanika Lala coming into the side in place of injury victims Kelli Brown, Ella Abdul-Massih, and Tijan McKenna. Teen star Ischia Brooking, the league’s youngest-ever player, came in on the bench.
For the Mariners, there was just one change as Brooke Nunn came in for Shay Evans. New signing, Irish international Sarah Rowe, who is also a talented Gaelic Footballer and AFLW player, took her place among the substitutes from where she made her debut with 12 minutes remaining.
The Glory looked to impose themselves on the game from the start, focusing their attack along the left-hand flank where Tathem was pushing up from the back to combine well with Gabby Hollar to create. The latter was swapping flanks regularly, with Grace Johnston her provider along the right.
In response, the visitors were trying to maximise possession, playing patiently, often across the middle of the park to find the key to unlock the Perth defence. On 11 minutes, Nunn fed Annalise Rasmussen to crack in a shot that Casey Dumont held.
Glory hit back immediately with Megan Wynne taking possession towards the right hand edge of the box before laying off to Charli Wainwright. The young midfielder saw Izzy Dalton coming in behind and played the Perth co-captain in to hit a rocket from outside the box that brought a superb flying save towards the left-hand post from Sarah Langman.
Just after the quarter-hour mark, the home side pressed again and earned a corner on the right. An idiosyncratic viciously curled-in set piece from Georgia Cassidy was met by the head of Chinnama in a flashback to the defender’s first-ever A-League Women goal just under a fortnight ago, but this time, it went just over the top, looking like it took a deflection off of Mariners attacker Jade Pennock as it did so.
As the action drifted towards the half-hour, Mariners were upping the percentage of possession but were finding it hard to penetrate the well-organised Glory backline. Pennock and Rasmussen were becoming increasingly influential in this period, picking up possession in the middle of the park and driving forward, but were largely unable to break through the purple wall to get shots on target.
Controversy reigned with 10 minutes of the half remaining as Ashley Irwin put in a heavy challenge on Wynne by the touchline in front of the dugouts. The Mariners defender came off worse, but to the astonishment of the home crowd and Glory head coach Stephen Peters, no card was shown by Rebecca Durcau.
It was an unnecessary challenge at best with the Welsh international having little space to advance up the field. In the end, Irwin was forced out of the game injured as a result of her tackle.
The home side created the first chance of the second period as Hollar held off Jessika Nash before turning her and firing in a powerful shot from close range at the right hand post which Langman saved well.
Moments later, Langman was called into action again as Lala broke through in a way so familiar to NPLW WA watchers, but the Mariners’ former Perth keeper came out of her box to meet the nugget from the WA Goldfields and deny her with a perfectly timed challenge.
With 15 minutes to play, Nunn played in Pennock with a perfectly weighted pass from the middle of the park. The English attacker held off Onyi Zogg as she entered the right-hand side of the box, but placed her shot well wide of the far post.
Then, with five minutes remaining, Pennock redeemed herself. Chinnama, under pressure from the attacker looked to play the ball back to the advancing Dumont. However, the Perth defender’s touch took it away from her keeper, allowing Pennock to nip in and calmly place the ball into an open goal.
In stoppage time, the Glory had vocal appeals for a penalty when Miku Sunaga went to ground in the box after being pushed by Ray. Durcau waved play on and that, ultimately was that.
Whilst Perth came close on several occasions during the game, they continued their recent struggles to turn opportunities into goals. The build-up play remains promising, but the sharpness in front of goal remains an issue. With Sarah O’Donoghue and Kelli Brown injured, it’s not going to get any easier to solve the conundrum as the Western Australians prepare for their 4th January trip to Wellington Phoenix – the longest journey that any team undertakes in a domestic league at over 5,255 kilometres.
The Mariners’ win sees them end their run of two consecutive defeats which is a huge positive ahead of their New Year’s Eve showdown with Melbourne City. To trouble the league leaders, though, they will need to be far more incisive in attack.
For Rob Lizzi’s full series photo galleries from the game, check out our Instagram feed @ImpetusFootball
Teams: PERTH GLORY (4-3-3): Dumont, Tathem, Zogg, Chinnama, Johnston, Wainwright, Cassidy, Dalton, Wynne, Lala, Hollar. Substitutes: Brooking, Foletta, Roberts, Sunaga, Templeman.
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS: (4-3-3): Langman, Puxty, Irwin, Nash, Martin, Galic, Ray, Nunn, Trimis, Rasmussen, Pennock. Substitutes: Carmichael, Evans, Fuller, Quilligan, Rowe.
Scorers: Pennock 85′.
Referee: Rebecca Durcau.
Attendance: 2,464.
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