The Central Coast Mariners return to the A-League Grand Final stage for the first time in 10 years after completing a season dominence of Adelaide on Saturday night.
The Mariners scorded twice in the first 7 minutes of the second half to come away with a 2-nil win on Saturday and an aggregate 4-1 win across the two-legged Semi-Final.
The game was played in front of a home record crowd of 20,059. It was also the highest attended game over the four games played as part of the semi-finals.
The first half was a real arm-wrestle with both the Mariners and Adelaide missing opportunities to score. There were concerns around the 22nd minute when Sam Silvera was on the end of tackle that had the home crowd screaming for a red card that did not come.
The best chance in the half came to Adelaide's Zach Clough who struck the outside of the left-hand post from the top of the penalty box.
The Mariners pressed hard in the last 10 minutes of the half but could not convert any chances with the sides going into the dressing rooms at half-time level at 0-0.
The second half started with a frenzy and the Mariners seemed to come out onto the field with more purpose.
In the 48th minute, a play that started in our own half resulted in the first of two goals. Mariners' Medal winner Josh Nisbet muscled the ball away from an Adelaide player, placing a perfect through ball down the sideline to Jason Cummings. Cummings worked the ball around the defence and towards the goal line before cutting the ball back to an advancing Sam Silvera who converted the opportunity.
It didn't take long for the Mariners to get a second goal in the 52nd minute. Like the first, this one also started in the Mariners own half. After passing the ball around between Kaltack, Balard and McGarry in defence, it was James McGarry who placed a superb pass through to Marco Tulio. Tulio beat an Adelaide defender who was closely marking him and proceeded to work the ball into the Adelaide penalty box. Tulio saw an opportunity to cross the ball to N'Kololo but his cross was blocked by Adelaide defender Warland.
Unfortunately for Warland and Adelaide, the block deflected the ball toward goal and forced keeper Gauci into a diving save. Gauci's save pushed the ball wide into the path of Tulio who continued his run and from a very acute angle buried the ball into the top of the net.
The Mariners continued to dominate for most of the second half but Adelaide pushed back late in the half to no avail. The Mariners held their two goal lead for the game and 4-1 scoreline for the semi-final to win the semi-final.
The Mariners (as the away team) will now meet Melbourne City in the Grand Final to be played on Saturday, 3rd June with kick-off at 7:45pm.
Mariners will be organising buses to the Grand Final. Look out for details on the Mariners web site and on social media.