A controversial late equaliser has denied Perth Glory a deserved victory against the Central Coast Mariners at nib stadium
A controversial late equaliser has denied Perth Glory a deserved victory against the Central Coast Mariners at nib stadium
Young defender Josh Risdon was heavily impeded in the build-up to the Mariners- 87th minute leveller, but Glory-s protests were waved away as they were forced to settle for a point in the 1-all draw.
“I-m sick and tired of these mistakes the referee-s are making week in week out,” Glory interim head coach Ian Ferguson said.
“This is our livelihood and its cost us two points today and it-s a blatant mistake as simply as that.
“I can-t say any more, something needs to be done.”
Suspensions and injuries forced coach Ferguson to reshuffle his pack once again, with Howard Fondyke, Scott Neville, Jamie Harnwell, Josh Mitchell and Anthony Skorich all returning to the starting line-up as Jacob Burns, Naum Sekulovski, Brent Griffiths, Michael Baird and Mile Sterjovski watched on from the stands. There was also a promotion to the bench for highly-rated young goalkeeper Alex Pearson following Aleks Vrteski-s departure from the club earlier in the week.
Looking refreshed and reinvigorated following last week-s bye, Glory were quickly into their stride and were asking questions of the Mariners- backline within the opening minute. Risdon-s deep cross from the right eluded a packed box and fell kindly for Steven McGarry, but the Scot fired his well-struck half-volley narrowly over.
It proved to be the briefest of reprieves for the men from Gosford, however, as three minutes later the home side took the lead from the unlikeliest of sources. Robbie Fowler-s corner to the near post picked out Josh Mitchell and his low shot looped up off the back of a Mariners defender, eluded Josh Rose-s desperate attempt to clear it off the line and fell gently into the back of the net to hand the former Newcastle man his first ever A-League goal.
The early set-back seemed to rattle the visitors and they struggled to contain a Glory side who looked a threat every time they got forward. Skorich was proving a real handful up front and almost embarrassed visiting ‘keeper Matthew Ryan with an audacious long-range lob that flew narrowly over, before Adriano Pellegrino was similarly off target with a well-struck 25 metre effort.
Neville unfortunately succumbed to injury (irregular heart beat) midway through the half, but the skipper-s enforced departure did little to disrupt Glory-s rhythm and substitute Tommy Amphlett made an immediate impact, swinging in a fine cross from the right that was headed back across goal, but centimetres wide of the far post by Fowler. Seconds later the home side survived a rare scare as Risdon-s unfortunate slip allowed Matt Simon to race onto a through ball from Brian McGlinchey, but the towering target-man sprayed his shot wastefully wide with just Tando Velaphi to beat.
That proved to be the last meaningful goalmouth action of the half as the two sides proceeded to slug it out in central midfield, where Fondyke effectively snuffed out the threat posed by danger-man Mustafa Amini, while the effervescent McGarry carried a genuine goalscoring threat as he thundered forward at every opportunity.
Another lightening start saw Glory immediately re-establish their grip on the game as Skorich saw his effort ruled out for off-side barely a minute into the second-half, Fowler headed narrowly over after being picked out superbly by Pellegrino and then Jamie Coyne got in on the act, powering his way to the edge of the box before stinging Ryan-s palms with a powerful low shot.
Sensing that his struggling side were in desperate need of a boost, Mariners coach Graham Arnold introduced ex-Glory loanee Daniel McBreen and highly-rated Argentinean playmaker Patricio Perez on 52 minutes and the former came close to restoring parity shortly after the hour-mark, fizzing a cross-shot just wide of Velaphi-s right-hand post.
That near-miss seemed to lift the visitors who finally began to mount some sustained pressure on the Glory goal, but as they threw extra bodies, they inevitably left gaps in the back and Skorich came close to taking full advantage on 72 minutes. Reacting quickest to a clever dummy from strike partner Fowler, the hard-working youngster found himself with a sight of goal but dragged his shot wide as Ryan raced from his line.
Two minutes later it was McGarry who almost bagged the goal his all-action performance warranted, Ryan producing another fine block to keep out the former Motherwell man-s 20 metre half-volley, before Fowler-s cheeky chip beat the over-worked Mariners ‘keeper but landed on the roof of the net rather than in it.
With both sides clearly feeling the effects of a long, hot afternoon, the game turned understandably scrappy as full-time loomed, but just as Glory looked set to claim a deserved and much-needed victory, the visitors levelled things up in controversial circumstances.
Only three minutes of normal time were left on the clock when Brian McGlinchey launched a cross in from the right towards McBreen. He appeared to bundle Risdon over in heading the ball across goal, but referee Gerard Parsons saw nothing wrong with the challenge and Patrick Zwaanswijk gleefully nodded home from close range.
Glory-s protested loud and long about the decision, but ultimately to no avail and their hopes of snatching a winner were extinguished when Fowler just failed to find the net with two stoppage time efforts, one flying centimetres over and the other blocked by the impressive Ryan.
Hyundai A-League Round 18
Perth Glory 1 Central Coast Mariners 1
12 December, nib Stadium
Attendance: 6536
Referee: Gerard Parsons
Perth Glory: 1.Tando Velaphi (gk), 2.Josh Mitchell 3.Jamie Coyne, 5.Jamie Harnwell, 9.Robbie Fowler, 12.Scott Neville (c) (13.Tommy Amphlett 20-), 14.Steven McGarry, 15.Howard Fondyke, 16.Adriano Pellegrino, 22.Anthony Skorich (11.Branko Jelic 80-), 24.Josh Risdon
Substitutes not used: 20.Alex Pearson, 23.Andrija Jukic.
Scorers: Mitchell 4-
Yellow cards: Fowler 32-
Red cards: nil
Central Coast Mariners: 20.Mathew Ryan (gk), 3.Joshua Rose, 4.Pedj Bojic, 6.Patrick Zwaanswijk, 8.Rostyn Griffiths, 11.Oliver Bozanic (17.Chris Doig 77-), 14.Michael McGlinchey, 18.Alex Wilkinson (c), 19.Matt Simon, 22.Mustafa Amini (10.Patricio Perez 52-), 23.Adam Kwasnik (2.Daniel McBreen 52-)
Substitutes not used: 30.Paul Henderson (gk).
Scorers: Patrick Zwaanswijk
Yellow cards: nil
Red cards:
