Central Coast Mariners 0-1 Perth Glory
by Ben Gilby (14/11/26)
Above: Maggie Jenkins celebrates after scoring her match winning goal. Photo: Perth Glory.
Maggie Jenkins’ goal 12 minutes from the end of normal time ensured that Perth Glory went level on points with leaders Central Coast Mariners the top of the A-League Women after this battle of the top two.
The New Zealander’s first goal for the Western Australian club saw them continue their superb start to the season, which has seen them earn 10 points from a possible 15, with seven of them coming on the road – a sensational achievement for a club who historically find it tough to come away from long journeys with the spoils.
Mariners created the first opportunity of the game. With seven minutes played, Peta Trimis played a corner short on the left before crossing in the return pass. Skye Halmarick got up the highest, but it was a comfortable save for Alyssa Dall’Oste, who was able to gather the ball calmly.
Shortly afterwards, the visitors carved out an opening of their own. Mariners gave away possession on the left, allowing Jenkins the space to run through and hit a curling side-footed effort from just under 25 yards that wasn’t quite high enough to evade the catch of former Perth keeper Morgan Aquino.
As the game reached the 25 minute mark, Glory showed the quality of their passing build-up again. Julia Sardo on the left played a pass that dissected the Central Coast midfield for Susan Phonsongkham to beat the close attentions of Te Reremoana Walker and get a low shot away that went narrowly wide of the right hand post.
Emma Tovar continued her excellent start to the season for the Glory with a commanding performance throughout, and just prior to half-time received the ball from Rola Badawiya, who had her back to play close to the right hand touch line, and turned beautifully to beat two markers and play in the midfielder.
Tovar beat Alexia Karrys-Stahl had space to run into and hit a low shot that lacked power, enabling Aquino to get down and hold the ball.
For the Mariners, a run from Kaiya Buchanan saw the ball played into the box. Halmarick’s touch found Trimis who turned and shot inside the box early in the second half caused Dall’Oste to get down quickly.
On the hour mark, Danika Matos danced her way down the right touch line and fed Halmarick who was in a central position, but the Young Matilda saw her shot bounce wide of the far post.
As the game entered its final 20 minutes, the best opportunity so far came. Tovar had the ball to the right of centre in the middle of the park and played a short pass to substitute Ella Lincoln. Although under the attention of both Kaiya Buchanan and Tess Quilligan, the attacker turned away from them and let fly with a shot from 25 yards which Aquino did well to hold as it bounced in front of her.
Then, five minutes later, the deciding moment of the game. Georgia Cassidy stood over a free-kick, 25 yards or so outside the box, to the right. The ball came in low to Lincoln, who touched it out towards Tovar, who beat Charlotte Lancaster and accelerated down the right flank to play in a pacey cross for Jenkins to rise highest and head home into the right hand corner of the net.
Glory Head coach Stephen Peters will be thrilled not just by the haul of points achieved on the road from his team, but also the fact that they have kept clean sheets in four of their five fixtures this season.
His team’s next bid for a statement making result on the road comes with next Sunday’s trip to Melbourne Victory.
Mariners however, have a long wait before attempting to bounce back from this, their first home defeat of the campaign as, due to the bye and international break, are not in action again until 13th December when they face Brisbane Roar.
Teams: CENTRAL COAST MARINERS (4-2-3-1): Aquino, Lake, Quilligan, K.Buchanan, Matos, Trimis, Walker, Familton, Halmarick, Karrys-Stahl, Kapetanellis. Substitutes: De Domizio, Iaria, Lancaster, Witz, Baumann, Fuller, Grove.
PERTH GLORY (4-1-4-1): Dall’Oste, Thew, Cassidy, Sardo, E.Buchanan, Zogg, Dalton, Jenkins, Tovar, Badawiya, Phonsongkham. Substitutes: Abdul Massih, Anderson, Lincoln, Trew, Westaway, Morrissey, Wainwright.
Scorer: Jenkins 78′.
Referee: Isabella Mossin.
Attendance: 1,034.
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