North Queensland Fury 0-1 Central Coast Mariners
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Central Coast Mariners stayed third on the A-League ladder after beating third-last North Queensland Fury 1-0 away at Dairy Farmers Stadium in Townsville tonight.
The Mariners are 4 points adrift of 2nd-placed Adelaide United and 5 behind leaders Brisbane Roar.
It was the Fury’s second successive home defeat.
They were denied a clear penalty in the 79th minute when Mariners goalkeeper Matt Ryan brought down David Williams, but referee Gerard Parsons waved play on.
The visitors dominated the opening half and centre-back Patrick Zwaanswijk headed them in front from a corner in the 36th minute.
The Mariners should have been in front as early as the opening minute, however, when Michael McGlinchey blazed wide from a perfect cross from the left by Daniel McBreen.
Williams was the best performer for Fury and went close in the 41st minute with a long-range effort that veered just wide of the right-hand post.
Williams had another chance in the 70th minute, but his shot flew centimetres over the bar.
Ryan came to the Mariners’ rescue in the 80th minute, diving to his left to claw away a superb half-volley by Isaka Cernak.
The Fury lived up to their name after the penalty refusal and Mark Hughes and Dyron Daal were both booked within two minutes of each other in the final four minutes.
Their frustration was already evident earlier when Ufuk Talay was booked in the 75th minute shortly after coming on as a substitute.
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North Queensland Fury: Pasfield - Storey (McDonald 52), Malik, Hughes, Kilian (Talay 63) - Williams, Grossman, Edds, Daal - Sseppuya (Cernak 46), Payne [Substitute not used: Usai]
Booked: Talay 75, Hughes 86, Daal 88
Central Coast Mariners: Ryan - Wilkinson, Doig, Zwaanswijk, Rose - Griffiths, McGlinchey, Bozanic (Lewis 69), Amini (Hutchinson 56) - Simon, McBreen (Kwasnik 82) [Substitute not used: Henderson]
Goals: Zwaanswijk 36
Att: 3,625
Ref: G Parsons
6 comments:
That penalty appeal turned down by Parsons was cruel
for Fury. It was a clear penalty. I hope they stay in the league next year. They've really added something.
The crowd rose to the occasion too in the second half. They really encouraged Fury and created a great atmosphere.
Kleberson
Given the good atmosphere I didn't realise the crowd was so small.
Alf Ramsey
Another shocker of a crowd. The A-League is going the way of the NSL; it will die due to financial woes.
It was an entertaining game.
The Mariners are starting to play much better football under Arnold. I have always suggested he would be successful in the A League. One can see the value added by his coaching. Of course he has added Rose, Bozanic, Zaanswijk and Perez, but essentially he has improved the playing performance of the worst team to watch in the league in the last few seasons. They pump very few long, high balls anymore. Some of their combination play in the first half was excellent.
Fury's pitch looks good too.
Decentric
mercury are a joke they always publish crowd figures except when it is a decent crowd of over 15000
brian young said:
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I fully agree Brian as i have stated in other posts prior .
If they cannot compete with the financial woes in an environment that should generate much larger crowds how do us Tasmanians ever hope to become A-League hopefuls.
given that at least half of our games will be away and some in nz can we sustain viability with the need for a team bus , plane tickets , accomodation and the usual expenses that are involved with A-League infra structure .
Consider all this and the population here as opposed to the big apple and we fall well low of needs and supporters on a regular basis to make it happen.
Estimated bums on seats at these games were 10000 plus to survive and there falling to as low as 3-4000 per game.
We would all love to see 10000 week in week out at Tasmanian games but going on current patrons of between 20 - 250 i find it very daunting to achieve this
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