This afternoon our Central Coast Mariners men's squad started their season with a well-earned win against F3 Derby rivals Newcastle Jets.
The starting lineup included Andrew Redmayne in goal and the long-awaited return of crowd favourite Brad Tapp.
The match started evenly but the visitors started to dominate possession. It was therefore of a concern to the Mariners when the Jets who scored first in the 14th minute. A strike from outside the Mariner' penalty box by Badolato found its mark to put the Jets up 1-nil.
The score remained that way for another 14 minutes when Bailey Brandtman surged into the Newcastle penalty box and was brought down by Newcastle's Burgess, leaving the referee with no option but award a penalty. Mariners midfielder Alfie McCalmonth stepped up and sent the Newcastle keeper the wrong way to level the score at 1-1.
That score only lasted two minutes with Miguel Di Pizioscoring from outside the box to put the Mariners ahead 2-1, that would be the score at half-time.
The second half continued in the same way the first half was with Newcastle enjoying the most of possession.
The Jets made crucial substitution in the 56th minutes bringing on forward Lachlan Rose, who started to cause some issues for the Mariners defensive unit.
In the 70th minute there was to be a crucial decision for the Mariners. Initially, Mariner defender Nathan Paull was judged to have fouled Newcastle's Lachlan Rose just outside the penalty area with Paull presented with a yellow card. On review by the VAR that was expected to determine if Paull should be awarded a red card instead, the decision was to reverse the decision that resulted in being judged that Paul did not foul Rose. The yellow card was withdrawn, and the Mariners given a drop ball.
Newcastle brought the game into life in the 80th minute with a 2-2 equaliser by Newcastle's Rose after a scramble in the box saw the Mariners fail to clear the ball. Game on!!!
With two minutes to play in extra time, Newcastle was awarded a penalty after Mariner Christian Theoharous brought a Newcastle player down inside the box. Unfortunately for Newcastle, Andrew Redmayne was up to the task and saved the Eli Adams spot kick. To make matters worse for Newcastle, Lachlan Rose missed a chance in the ensuing play to score.
One minute later the Mariners were to work the ball forward with Theoharous challenging the Newcastle Goalkeeper. The ball was to fall to feet of Nicholas Duarte who would gather the ball and score into an empty Newcastle goal mouth.
End result: Central Coast Mariners 3 - Newcastle Jets 2
This result places the Central Coast Mariners Men at the top of the ladder at the end of Round 1.
