In windy conditions, the Central Coast Mariners Men's side tonight drew 2-2 with Western United in Tarneit in a game that had many twists and turns.
The match started with the Mariners running with the strong breeze in the first half and were the first side to have a real opportunity on goal. In the 12th minute, Arthur De Lima found some open space and able to shoot on goal. Unfortunately, the shot went straight to United's goalkeeper Sutton.
The match was being evenly contested until the 32nd minute when United scored first. A looping cross from United's Danzaki found the head of Botic who headed to ball over Mariners goalkeeper Peraic-Cullen.
It did not take long for the Mariners to equalise in the 39th minute. A freekick awarded to Mariners wide on the left was taken by Mikael Doka. His curling freekick not only missed all of United's defender and Mariners attacking players, but it found the inside of the right-hand post to go in to score.
The Mariners continued to put pressure on United and three minutes later went ahead 2-1. A beautiful through ball from Haine Eames found Nathan Paull surging forward on the left wing. Paull let the ball roll towards United's penalty box and put a lovely cross in that found Ryan Edmondson at the far post. Edmondson had no problem striking the ball first time past United's keeper.
The score was 2-1 to the Mariners at half-time.
The second half had the Mariners running into the breeze that seemed to have gotten stronger as the match progressed. Despite this, they had an opportunity in the 60th minute when Mariners newcomer Faisal put a great cross on towards Edmondson. Edmondson stretched and directed the ball towards goal but the ball bounced over the crossbar.
United had a chance to level the match at the 64th minute but missed. They found the equaliser 10 minutes later from a free kick taken by United's Ben Garuccio.
The Mariners had two more chances in extra time. Both chances came to Doka in the 93rd and 94th minutes with the second being a bicycle kick saved by the United goalkeeper, keeping the score at 2-2.
The Mariners Men next play as part of a double header on Saturday, 1st February against Newcastle Jets. Kick-off is scheduled for 7:35pm.