Central Coast Mariners’ nine-year wait for an Isuzu UTE A-League win in Victoria came to an end on Friday afternoon, as they breezed past Western United 3-0 in Ballarat to edge ever closer to a top four berth.
Finally, the drought is over.
On the 29th attempt, the Central Coast Mariners finally came away with a league win in Victoria, thrashing Western United 3-0 at Mars Stadium to bring an end to an agonisingly long wait for three points south of the New South Wales border.
The last time the Mariners had won a game in Victoria came in March 2014, when they beat Melbourne Heart 2-1 at AAMI Park – a game made famous by Orlando Engelaar’s incredible goal from beyond halfway.
On that day, Mariners coach Nick Montgomery and the club’s newly appointed director of football Matt Simon lined up for Central Coast, while Ben Garuccio – who was on the pitch for Western – and full-back Storm Roux were both on the team sheets.
If that wasn’t enough, Macarthur FC boss Mile Sterjovski and former Melbourne City, now Ligue 1 side Troyes manager Patrick Kisnorbo were on opposite sides.
Yes, that’s how long it’s been.
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At the same venue last season, the Mariners missed a golden opportunity to end the streak when Jason Cummings missed a penalty in second-half stoppage time in a 2-2 draw.
This time, however, it was three points in the bag and it was Cummings who got the ball rolling with the opening goal.
“Yeah, I do you remember that day, it’s something we spoke about for a while,” Montgomery said post-game.
“We spoke about last time we went to Melbourne Victory and it didn’t work. So we didn’t speak about it today. Well, I blame Jason (Cummings) the record because he missed a penalty last minute, last season to win the game here!
“I think today we have more than deserved the three points.”
The Mariners were dominant from start to finish, putting their foot down from the word go and never relenting as they wrapped up back-to-back wins.
Goals from Beni N’Kololo and Dylan Wenzel-Halls built on Cummings’ opener, but the Mariners could have easily piled on more hurt had it not been for the offside flag and some wayward finishing.
For Wenzel-Halls, however, it was his first goal in Mariners colours since making the move from Western mid-season.
After starting in their maiden Championship winning team last season, the striker fell out of favour early in this campaign, falling behind the likes of Aleksandar Prijovic and Noah Botic in the pecking order.
“To get my first goal of the season and to get it after the two games at the moment fills me with a lot of confidence,” Wenzel-Halls told Paramount + post-game.
“And like I said, it’s it’s nice to see a lot of familiar faces.”
This was only Wenzel-Halls’ second game in a Mariners jersey, having made his club debut last week in their 4-1 win over Brisbane Roar after being forced to bide his time due to an untimely injury in his first training session at the club.
“An absolute disaster I’ll be honest,” he said about his transition to life in Gosford.
“My first session, obviously, to get injured… It felt like the end of the world at the time but I’ve worked really hard and the guys at the Mariners have been so supportive of me and made it clear that they want to get me back ASAP but no rush.
“They did that and obviously to be back out there, it’s just something special as well because after a difficult period towards the end at Western and obviously to come in buzzing to play and to not play it hurts inside but today it was just such a nice feeling.”
The win puts Central Coast three points clear of Western Sydney Wanderers – who still need to play Macarthur FC on Saturday night – in third-place and all but wrap up a third successive finals appearance.
Meanwhile, for Western United, they missed yet another golden opportunity to climb into the top six as their winless run extended to three straight games.
John Aloisi’s side remain two points adrift of sixth-placed Sydney FC heading into the final three games and go into a daunting fortnight of games against the league’s top two sides – Adelaide United (away) and Melbourne City (home).
Despite struggling to lay a punch on the Mariners, Western players were aggrieved when a foul wasn’t awarded to Josh Risdon for a strong challenge from Sammy Silvera in the lead-up to N’Kololo’s goal.
This led to Risdon turning his attention away from the play and engaging in a scuffle with the Mariners attacker – while the Frenchman put it into the back of the net.
Referee Jonathan Barreiro checked it again after VAR review, but opted against overturning his original decision as he felt Silvera won the ball.
Risdon weighed in post-game on the decision and felt that there was contact, but ever the professional, the 14-time Socceroo said he should have been more focused.
“Yeah, to be honest, I felt contact in my back my leg and I thought he’s gonna blow it that’s why I went off and then didn’t continue playing,” he told Paramount+
“So I should have spotted my mistake getting caught up in the emotion, I should have kept playing and I actually didn’t see how it resulted in a goal.
“I could have could have played that a bitter, keep playing on.. but I thought I was going to blow it when I got tackled and I’ve got a big tennis ball on my calf.
“That’s what happens… credit to them, they’re a good side.”
