Central Coast Mariners 0-0 Sydney FC
by Ben Gilby (4/4/26)
Above: Sydney FC’s Shay Hollman (right) holds onto possession despite the close attention of Jynaya dos Santos today. Photo: A-Leagues
Central Coast Mariners’ defence of the A-League Women championship is over as they missed out on Finals football by the smallest of margins after this goalless draw with Sydney FC at polytec Stadium today.
Following Melbourne Victory’s win at Perth Glory yesterday, and Brisbane Roar’s subsequent win at Canberra United today, Kory Babington’s side ultimately needed a win over a Sydney side who had to get a point from this clash to avoid the wooden spoon. The visitors from the Harbour City achieved their aim, meaning the Mariners missed out on a place in the top six by having conceded two goals more than Victory across the season.
Ahead of kick-off, home boss Babington made one change to his side’s starting line-up from last week’s 0-0 draw with Canberra United with Annabel Martin coming in for Izzy Gomez.
Meanwhile, Sydney FC caretaker boss James Slaveski also made just the one change to the starting line-up that defeated Melbourne Victory 2-1 in their previous outing, as Claudia Valletta replaced Madison Ayson, who dropped to the bench.
Mariners had the first golden chance of the game just after the quarter hour mark as goalkeeper Annalee Grove’s clearance fell perfectly for Eliza Familton to break through and drive into the box. Her shot beat Heather Hinz in the Sydney goal, but agonisingly came back off of the left-hand post with no-one around to get to the rebound.
Indeed, this would be the closest they would come all game long, as clear cut opportunities were few and far between.
Sydney will feel they had more chances to clinch the win – albeit without sufficient quality in front of goal to ultimately earn it.
Their first half chance came 22 minutes in when Mackenzie Hawkesby gained possession on the right and fed Riley Tanner in the centre. Possession was further laid out to Claire Corbett who hit a weak shot from around 25 yards that Grove gathered comfortably.
It took until just before the hour mark before the next glimmer arrived, as Tori Tumeth galloped through the middle, with Sydney retaining possession following her tasty challenge to retain possession with Martin that saw the ball emerge to Hawkesby. She returned play to Tumeth who saw her eventual shot lack the power to trouble Grove. The same player would see another effort ten minutes later suffer the same fate from long distance after it took a deflection.
Excellent control and footwork in a tight space led to Jynaya dos Santos beating Charlotte Mclean to earn the Mariners a shot at goal, with the former Sydney youngster seeing her effort deflect wide of the left-hand post.
The remaining better opportunities fell Sydney’s way. First, with 15 minutes to go, Lorena Baumann made a superbly timed challenge in the box on Tanner, just as the Panama international was poised to shoot after being played in brilliantly from the left by Amber Luchtmeijer.
Baumann had absolutely no margin for error with danger signals of a potential penalty, sending off, or concession of a goal all flashing. Yet the Swiss defender pulled a superb challenge out of the bag.
In the final minute, the visitors had another great chance when Kirsty Fenton’s thumping header from a corner was pushed up onto the crossbar by Grove who then got another touch onto the ball before Blake Hughes completed the clearance.
Ultimately goalless draws in their final two matches when they needed one win from those two games prevented the Mariners from retaining their record of qualifying for the Finals in every season since they re-entered the competition for the 2023/24 season.
Sydney FC will take a sigh of relief that an exceptionally disappointing season did not end with them claiming the wooden spoon, a dubious honour which now falls to their cross city rivals Western Sydney Wanderers for the second campaign in a row.
Teams: CENTRAL COAST MARINERS (5-3-2): Grove, Buchanan, Martin, Barwick-Gray, King, Baumann, Kraszula, Levin, Quilligan, Familton, Farrow. Substitutes: Bowman, Fernandez, Hughes, Thew, Varley, J.dos Santos.
SYDNEY FC (5-2-2): Hinz, Lemon, Tumeth, Pearson, Mclean, Valletta, Hawkesby, Ulkekul, Corbett, Luchtmeijer, Tanner. Substitutes: Ayson, Fenton, Caspers, Hollman, Oppedisano, Robertson.
Referee: Sophie Allum.
Attendance: TBC.
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