This past weekend's matches were again mixed results for our Mariners teams.
Our Men were the first to take the field on Friday evening at our Paradise, with the opposition being league front runner’s Auckland FC. This was the third top 3 sides that our Men have played in the last three matches.
The match was evenly contested for the first 20 minutes, with Andrew Redmayne making some important saves.
However, it was a well-placed through ball that opened the Mariners defensive with Auckland’s Jesse Randall converting the opportunity.
The visitors would hold onto this lead until the 33rd minute when an excellent longball found Storm Roux on the right wing. Roux’s cross forced the Auckland defence into action with Auckland’s Callan Elliot heading the ball into his own net.
The score would remain at 1-1 at half-time.
The second half started with the visitors controlling the match, resulting in the visitors scoring in the 58th minute.
Despite calls for an offside call from Mariners’ players and fans, Auckland’s Sam Cosgrove scored from a cross by teammate Lachlan Brook.
The Mariners had an opportunity in the 74th minute when the Auckland goalkeeper made an important save from a, Alfie McCalmont shot.
Our Women played on Sunday against Western Sydney Wanderers at their home ground in Rooty Hill, coming away with their first away win for the season.
The first 15 minutes found both sides trying to get on top of their opponent to little effect.
The deadlock was broken in the 18th minute when Mariners defender Lorena Baumann put a long through ball in the direction of Isabella Coc-Di Sipio. Isabella was being closely marked by her opposition defender and had the Wanderers goalkeeper advancing toward her.
Isabella was running to the left of goal but was able to get a shot away using the outside of her right-hand boot. The ball made a slight curl toward to and into the goal.
The scoreline would change again 10 minutes later when the Mariners scored to take a 2-0 lead.
A cross from the right by Annabel Martin was cleared by the Wanderers defence. This clearance went straight to Isabel Gomez who chested the ball down and on the half volley drilled the ball into goal.
The second half started with the Mariners controlling the game, but the home side were to start to control the latter part of the match.
This pressure would see a possible contender for goal of the year. From a scrappy piece of play, Wanderer substitute Talia Younis took a shot from well outside the Mariners’ penalty area. The shot cleared Mariners goalkeeper Grove to take the score to the final score of 2-1.
Next matches for the Mariners are both away, starting with the Women travelling to Canberra. The match will be played at McKellar Park with kick-off scheduled for 5:30pm on Saturday, 20th December.
The Men will travel to Wellington to play the Phoenix. The match will be played at Sky Stadium in Wellington and is scheduled for a kick-off of 1:00pm on Sunday, 21st December.
Kick-off time are Australian Eastern Daylight Time.