Brisbane Roar 2 – Central Coast Mariners 2
By Alyce Collett 24/1/2026
Above: Annalise Rasmussen (left), Peta Trimis (centre) and Tamar Levin (right) celebrate after Rasmussen scored one of her two goals tonight against Brisbane. Photo: via A Leagues
The Brisbane Roar and the Central Coast Mariners have played out an intriguing two all draw to record only the second draw in the head to head history of the two sides.
In the first half a well placed goal from Ashlyn Miller was quickly cancelled out by Annalise Rasmussen, before a well struck goal in the second half from Daisy Brown was also cancelled out by Rasmussen.
As much as Peta Trimis and her lively footwork was energetic early, it was the home side who looked the most dangerous early, with Bente Jansen in particular asking questions of Annalee Grove in the Mariners’ goals.
It was not long before Brisbane got some reward for its early dominance not even nine minutes into the clash. A well fed pass from Jansen found Miller directly in front of goal, who slotted it perfectly past Grove for the opening goal of the clash.
However the Mariners did not have to wait too long for the perfect opportunity to respond, earning a penalty not even five minutes later. Rasmussen – the one who had earned her side the penalty after copping a rough tackle in the box from Leia Varley – then stood up to take the penalty and slotted it home perfectly to get the game back on even terms.
Getting the equaliser seemed to rejuvenate the Mariners, who started to take control of both the time in attack and percentage of possession.
As the half progressed, both sides had a different issue trying to find a second goal for themselves.
For the Roar, they would get the ball out wide then cross it in but have no one in the right position in front of goal to capitalise on the cross. Meanwhile for the Mariners, their through balls to their running attackers like Rasmussen and Trimis had too much power on them so Chloe Lincoln was able to pounce on them before the Mariners’ attackers could get a foot to them.
In the end, the score remained at one goal each at the break.
It was a fairly even affair in the second half, with plenty of end to end action for fans to enjoy. Brisbane did look the more likely of the two sides to score, but the Mariners certainly were not without chances of their own.
For much of the half it did not look like either side would score, but that changed with about 15 minutes to go when Daisy Brown stole the ball in midfield, and with a long range shot caught Grove off her line and a second goal in the books for the home side.
The home side could not celebrate retaking the lead for long, with Rasmussen slotting home a second goal for the evening mere minutes later, and proceedings were even once again.
Despite conceding the equaliser again Brisbane kept fighting hard to retake the lead again, but the Mariners defence held firm to keep the score level and come away from their trip north with a point.
If conceding the lead for the second time in one night was not bad enough for Brisbane, Sharn Freier was forced from the field in serious pain in the shadows of stoppage time, with the worry that she had in fact done a serious knee injury.
Teams: BRISBANE ROAR (4-4-2): Lincoln, Seidl, Varley, Medwin, Miller, Freier, Hayashi, Studer, Woods, Jansen, Brown. Substitutes: Cuthbert, Franco, Kinsella, Meyers, Stephenson, Piazza.
Scorers: Miller 9’, Brown 74’
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS (4-4-2): Grove, Martin, Barwick-Grey, King, Baumann, Levin, Kraszula, Gomez, Prakash, Rasmussen, Trimis. Substitutes: Buchanan, Farrow, Fuller, Quilligan, Thew, Varley.
Scorers: Rasmussen 15’, 77’
Referee: Sophie Allum
Attendance: TBC.
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