Central Coast Mariners went to the top of the A-League standings when they beat Melbourne Heart 1-0 before a crowd of 6,326 at Bluetongue stadium in Gosford tonight.
The goal came from Daniel McBreen in the 20th minute.
The Heart were reduced to 10 men in the 52nd minute with the dismissal of Michael Beauchamp.
His send-off for an attempted head-butt on Oliver Bozanic should probably have resulted in a penalty as the incident occurred inside the penalty area, but referee Peter Green strangely awarded the Mariners a free-kick just outside the box.
Beauchamp had missed at least 10 minutes of the match as he had to leave the field three times in the first half to have a bleeding nose treated. The injury resulted from an accidental elbow to the face by Matt Simon.
Heart keeper Clint Bolton made a brilliant save in the 15th minute from McBreen’s acrobatic volley from 10 metres after Bozanic’s left-wing cross.
Five minutes later, Pedj Bojic chipped the ball towards the far post from the inside-right channel and McBreen beat his marker, Wayne Srhoj, to beat Bolton at his near post.
Simon headed wide in the 28th minute from Bozanic’s left-wing cross as the Mariners continued to make ground down the flanks.
Heart’s only response in the first half was two shots straight at keeper Mathew Ryan, by Aziz Behich and Nick Kalmar.
The Mariners were unable to take advantage of Beauchamp’s dismissal in the second half to add to their score and Heart actually pressed strongly in an endeavour to find an equaliser.
Substitute Adam Kwasnik almost extended the home-side’s lead in the 87th minute when he beat a defender on the right and sent in a firm shot, but it was well held by Bolton.
Matt Thompson’s cheeky effort from long range in the 89th minute was caught by a back-pedalling Mariners keeper Ryan, while in the 91st minute, Heart substitute John Aloisi showed excellent control in bringing down a cross, but he fired over the bar.
Heart continued to attack in the dying seconds and Behich had a shot deflected for a corner.
From the corner, substitute Eli Babalj had a shot blocked from close range for another corner, but Mr Green blew the whistle to end the match before the corner could be taken.
Mariners coach Graham Arnold was pleased with his side’s performance and praised the contribution of midfielder Rostyn Griffiths.
Mariners had 11 shots on goal (Daniel McBreen 3, John Hutchinson 2, Matt Simon 2, Oliver Bozanic 2, Joshua Rose 1, Adam Kwasnik 1), 4 of which were on target (McBreen 2, Hutchinson 1, Kwasnik 1), compared to Heart’s 7 (Aziz Behich 2, John Aloisi 2, MattThompson 1, Nick Kalmar 1, Eli Babalj 1) and 3 (Behich 1, Kalmar 1,Thompson 1), respectively.
Mariners had 2 corners and Heart 4, while Mariners committed 10 fouls compared to Heart’s 11.
Mariners were caught off-side 6 times and Heart just once.
Mariners received 2 yellow cards (John Hutchinson in the 76th minute, and Adam Kwasnik in the 78th minute), while Heart received one yellow card (Dean Heffernan in the 23rd minute) and one red (Michael Beauchamp in the 52nd minute).
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