June 3, 2023
It was perhaps fitting that today’s A-League Grand Final was between Melbourne City and Central Coast Mariners as these two sides had finished as the top two in the regular season table.
In the Championship play-offs, Melbourne City overcame fifth placed Sydney FC 5-1 on aggregate in their semi-final, whilst the Mariners eliminated third placed Adelaide United 4-1 over two legs.
The Grand Final was being played at the CommBank Stadium in Parramatta, Sydney following a controversial decision to give the next three finals to the NSW Government regardless of who was playing. Previously, the team finishing the highest in the regular season hosted the Grand Final, and the protests against this decision led to the Melbourne derby in December being abandoned.
The CommBank Stadium opened in 2019 and is the home of A-League side Western Sydney Wanderers and NRL side Parramatta Eels. It was built on the site of the old Pirtek Stadium in Parramatta, which was also known as the Western Sydney Stadium. I went there to watch Parramatta Eels play New Zealand Warriors in an NRL clash in May 2015, where in front of a crowd of 11,152, the Eels lost 13-17 in overtime.
Both sides have previously featured in these diaries, with Melbourne City going down 2-3 to Melbourne Victory in the Melbourne derby in a free-to-air game on Australian TV back in February, one of only three defeats they suffered in the regular league season.
Central Coast Mariners first featured after I watched them draw 1-1 against Sydney FC in a match played at the Leichhardt Oval in February 2019. Their other appearance in the diaries was in a 1-0 win over Western United at the tail-end of the 2021/22 season, as they secured a play-off place last season.
At this point these diaries needs to disclose a preference for the Mariners. With relatives owning property on the Central Coast, we spent a very enjoyable week in the region in February this year. We drove past the Gosford Stadium on several occasions, but unfortunately there was no game that week as their match against Perth Glory had been re-arranged to be an away fixture instead of a home one !
Owned by the City Football Group that owns Manchester City as well as 11 other football clubs around the world, Melbourne City have been A-League Premiers on three occasions, namely the side that comes top after the regular season. However, they had only won the Grand Final on one occasion, in 2021, despite having played in the last 4 Grand Finals.
In recent years Mariners have been strugglers in the A-League, with their one Grand Championship being won in 2013, and their two Premiers before then. Their revival in the past couple of seasons has seen a resurgence in their support, with large numbers expected to make the 75km journey from Gosford by car, train and laid-on coaches. They were no doubt happy with the decision to play the Grand Final in Sydney rather than having to travel to Melbourne !
In contrast, Melbourne City fans faced a trip of nearly 900km, a 9 hour drive or a 90 minute flight. Adult tickets for the game were generally priced starting around AUD 65 whilst hospitality packages looked to start at 195 AUD.
The key players in the Melbourne City line-up were Socceroo strikers Jamie Maclaren ( 29 caps ) and Mathew Leckie ( 76 caps ). Maclaren was the A-League’s top marksman this season with 24 goals in 28 games whilst Leckie, who scored the winning goal for Australia against Denmark in the 2022 World Cup, had notched 7 goals and was previously with Hertha Berlin. Highly rated 21 year old forward Marco Tilio ( 5 caps ) had scored 8 goals this season.
Midfielder Aiden O’Neill ( 2 caps ) played for the Mariners back in 2019 and scored their goal in that 1-1 draw at Sydney FC. Ex-RB Salzburg & Lazio midfielder Valon Berisha has won 20 caps for Norway and 36 for Kosovo, and ex-Nottingham Forest, Twente Enschede, PEC Zwolle and CSKA Sofia defender Thomas Lam has 20 caps for Finland. 20-year-old defender Jordan Bos has this week been announced as joining Belgian side Westerlo for next season.
The star man for Central Coast is ex-Hibernians, Rangers, Dundee and Nottingham Forest striker Jason Cummings ( Scotland 2 caps, Australia 3 caps ), who had 16 goals so far this season, ahead of ex-Roeselare Brazilian midfielder Marco Tulio on 8 goals. Right back Storm Roux has 11 caps for New Zealand and is one of those playing who always seems to be referred to by his full name rather than just his surname, and doesn’t appear to have the nickname “Kanga”.
Ex-Genk keeper Danny Vukovic has won 4 caps for Australia and Brazilian midfielder Moresche played 7 games for Torpedo Zhodino in Belarus in 2020. Defender Nectarios Triantis is rumoured to about to be joining Sunderland and centre-back Brian Kaltak has 20 caps for Vanuatu, and was being watched by his Prime Minister from the stands !
In the two meetings in the regular season, the match in Gosford was a 1-1 draw, but City prevailed 1-0 in the reverse fixture.
The match was shown live on Bet365.com, who made Melbourne City evens favourites, with Central Coast Mariners at 11/5 and the draw at 14/5. The match was also shown in the UK by BT Sport.
At the 19.45 local time kick-off the temperature was 19 degrees on a dry but cloudy day. The Mariners were in their usual yellow and blue shirts with blue shorts whilst City were in Manchester City sky blue shirts and white shorts.
Both sides were unchanged from the sides that started their semi-final second legs and after the playing of the national anthem, the game kicked off at 19.55 local time, 10 minutes after the supposed scheduled start.
After a bitty opening, the first shot of the match came in the 7th minute for City but Tilio’s long-range attempt saw a routine save for Vukovic.
A better chance came in the 9th minute but this time for the Mariners. Tulio’s incisive pass put Cummings clear. Keeper Glover came off his line to close down the angle and spread himself. Cumming’s left footed flick hit the keeper’s outstretched right arm and the ball trickled towards the goal. Fortunately for Melbourne City, Curtis Good was tracking back and was able to clear a couple of feet from the goal-line.
A minute later Mariners Tulio was put clear but his attempted lob was easily saved, but the offside flag was belatedly raised.
The first corner of the game arrived in the 15th minute but Maclaren went down far too easily challenging for the ball and the referee waved play on.
A minute later the ball was chipped into the Mariners’ area and Vukovic came off his line to bravely punch away ahead of Berisha, which saw the Kosovan stay on the floor after the collision. The referee stopped the game to allow treatment just as the Mariners had a dangerous counter attack. Even worse for the Central Coast side, the referee restarted play with possession to City ! The injury to Berisha was such that he couldn’t continue, and he was replace a few minutes later by ex-RKC Waalwik midfielder Richard van der Veene.
In-between they had fallen a goal behind. A loping run down the right by Frenchman Beni Nkololo led to a dangerous cross towards the City 6 yard line. Cumming’s volley was blocked by Good but Scot was alert to pounce on the rebound and prod past Glover from close range. 1-0 to the Mariners after 20 minutes !
City were rocked and in the 23rd minute Tulio was put clear on the left hand side of the penalty area.. His first effort was blocked by Glover, who was also able to get a foot to the follow-up for a good double save at the expense of a corner. The set piece went long but Nkololo did well to retrieve, get to the by-line and cross low to the near post, but a clever flick with the outside of his foot by Triantis went just over the bar.
Melbourne City responded with a run by Tilio but his shot after cutting back inside was straight at the keeper for a regulation save.
After 27 minutes a driving run from half-way by the increasingly impressive Samuel Silvera was halted after he lost his balance as he appeared to be pulled back by O’Neill, but the referee saw differently. As the Mariners complained, City went to the other end but the cross was poor and went off harmlessly for a goal-kick.
City were finally starting to look dangerous as a long-range drive from Lam skidded just wide, then Maclaren blazed over from a narrow angle after good play by O’Neill.
However, the Mariners took a firm grip on the game with a glorious goal in the 33rd minute. Cummings won possession just inside the City half and fed Samuel Silvera, who then showed tremendous pace to leave Pereira Reis for dead and with just the keeper to beat, calmly steered the ball into the corner. 2-0 !
City were not going to lie-down though and after van der Venne had a long-range effort blocked by Triantis, a clever ball by Good in the 40th minute found Maclaren one on one with the keeper, and the striker unselfishly squared the ball for Van der Venne to steer a volley into roof of the empty net from 10 yards to reduce the deficit.
Van der Venne then shot over from long range when Maclaren was in a good position, and then the first yellow card of the game was shown after Reis nastily went through the back of Silvera, probably in revenge for being skinned for second goal.
The last chance of the half fell to the Mariners but keeper Glover made a superb save after a brilliant pass from Tulio inside left-back released Nkololo, but his effort was deflected for a corner by the keeper’s outstretched leg. It may have been ruled out for offside had it gone in to the net, but we will never know.
Melbourne City started the second half strongly and four minutes in they fashioned a 3 on 1 break, but a great tackle by Kaltak halted the danger. A good move involving Maclaren, Nabbout and Tilio gave Leckie a sight on goal, but his left-footed drive was blocked by the diving Storm Roux, then in the 54th minute Leckie showed good skill to bring down a chip but his left footed shot from narrow angle struck the base of the post with Vukovic beaten.
A minute later another quick counter gave City 3 on 2 attack and Nabbout put van der Veene clear on goal, but the Dutchman’s left footed flick past the keeper lacked power and Triantis was able to slid in to clear for a corner.
Mariners’ Balard was then caught in possession on the edge of his own area by O’Neill and was lucky to be given the foul, otherwise City looked likely to score.
On a rare foray into the City half, Tulio cross across the face of the goal was cleared before Cummings could slide onto it, but the was flag eventually raised for offside anyway. Central Coast were now under the pump with City substitute van der Veene in particular, catching the eye.
The game took a dramatic turn in the 63rd minute. Silvera’s pass found Cummings inside the Sky Blues’ area but his shot was blocked by Good. Substitute Farrell reacted the quickest to get to the loose ball ahead of Nabbout for his first touch of the match, but was clumsily up-ended by Nabbout for an obvious penalty. Cummings took the penalty and sent the keeper the wrong way to give the Mariners a 3-1 lead, and some breathing space after surviving the pressure.
The Mariners were soon awarded another penalty although this one was not so clear cut. Nkololo took a quick free-kick inside his own half to Cummings on his own on the right wing. There was a hint of off-side but play continued as the Mariners worked the ball to Farrell on the left, whose low cross was blocked by the sliding Talbot, who himself had only just come on. The referee decided it was arm onto ball rather than vice-versa and awarded a penalty for handball, and VAR didn’t overturn the decision. Cummings again sent Glover the wrong way, this time putting the ball into the top of the other corner for his hat-trick ,and to make it 4-1 with 73 minutes on the clock.
Melbourne City now looked a beaten side as errors crept into their play although with 9 minutes remaining Lam lashed wide after a Leckie header from a corner had hit the body of Mariners’ Steele.
The Mariners were now rampant and with 7 minutes left to play a great surging run by Nisbet from his own half, led to a pass to Silvera, and from the edge of the Melbourne area his cross from the outside of his right foot enabled Nkololo to ghost in at the far post behind Bos for a simple header to make it 5-1.
With added time being played, further gloss was added to the score as Theoharous robbed Berenguer, advanced into area but had his shot blocked. Nkololo managed to get a toe to the loose ball to prod to Moresche, for the ex-Torpedo Zhodino man to sweep home to make it a scarcely believable 6-1.
In a game billed by some as a battle between David and
Goliath, the smallest side in the A-League had thrashed the wealthy giants of
the land, and Melbourne City’s Grand Final Jinx continued.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hovm81huKY
Melbourne City : Glover – Reis ( Talbot ), Lam, Good, Bos ( Berenguer ) – Nabbout, Berisha ( van der Venne ), O’Neill - Leckie, Tilio, Maclaren
Central Coast Mariners : Vukovic – Roux ( Hall ), Triantis ( Theoharous ), Kaltak, McGarry ( Farrell ) – Nkololo, Nisbet, Balard ( Steele ), Silvera ( Moresche ) – Tulio, Cummings
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