Central Coast’s A-League Men clash with Melbourne City in Gosford on Sunday night descended into chaos late in stoppage time when a wild brawl broke out, which saw almost every player from each side involved.
About 10 minutes after Mariners forward Angel Torres scored his 88th-minute winner to break City hearts and delivered the hosts a thrilling 2-1 win in scorching conditions, a clash between City’s Terry Antonis and Central Coast’s Jacob Farrell in the seventh minute of added time spark a huge melee.
In the wash-up, Central Coast’s Storm Roux, who was already substituted from the match, was sent off for his involvement from the bench, while his captain Danny Vukovic was also shown yellow. Antonis and his teammate Tolgay Arslan were also given yellow cards.
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“They’ve come from everywhere here,” Paramount play-by-play commentator Robbie Thomson said.
“I spoke about the rivalry, there’s no love lost between these two sides.
“Now the City bench is coming … this is escalating.”
Former Mariners coach Phil Moss added: “Just when you thought the temperature was cooling down, it’s gone in exactly the opposite direction.
“Good luck dissecting all of this, because there were bodies everywhere. Both benches coming in.”
Mariners player Josh Nisbet was asked about the incident post-game.
“You can see the passion in the game, and that both teams needed the points,” he told Paramount.
“We all love ‘Faz’, so as soon as someone touches him, we better get in there.”
Central Coast coach Mark Jackson praised both benches for trying to calm things down.
“Most people were trying to get them (apart) there,” Jackson said after his team’s 2-1 win.
“Emotions boil over sometimes, both teams are fully committed. I don’t know what happened, and I’ll look back on it and find out I’m sure, but certainly from our point of view, and I’m sure it’s from their point of view, with regards to staff, we were just trying to get the players off and calm things down.”
As for what Roux did to warrant a straight red, Jackson said: “At this moment in time, I don’t know. I’ll look back on it and assess it from there. But, listen, emotions run high. Our boys are all in it together. They back each other.”
The incident capped off a frustrating match for Melbourne, who absolutely dominated the second half with 14 shots at goal to two and seven corners to one. The sustained pressure they applied to the Mariners defence saw them level proceedings in the 79th minute when Steven Ugarkovic blasted it home from the edge of the box, with the help of a deflection.
But nine minutes later, after accepting the set up from Jing Reec, Torres danced around Curtis Good, and coolly sent it past wrong-footed Melbourne goalkeeper Jamie Young to send Central Coast into the top four of the A-League Men ladder, in what was a cruel blow for City.
The hosts opened up the scoring in the 50th minute with a magnificently constructed team goal. Alou Kuol sent a sublimely weighted pass into the path of Josh Nisbet who didn’t have to break stride, and the latter cut it back to Christian Theoharous who sent it flying into the back of the net from 12 yards out.
All up, Melbourne had far more total shots (17-9) and corners (8-3), while they edged Central Coast in shots on target (6-5) as well as possession (56 per cent), but it wasn’t enough to take any points away from the match.
After losing their first four games, and dropping to the bottom of the ladder, the Mariners have now strung together nine consecutive league games without defeat, including six wins, to roar back into contention to defend their title.
Meanwhile, Melbourne missed a chance to re-enter the top four, and after copping back-to-back losses for the first time since October, they remain stuck in eighth spot and could drop to ninth on Tuesday night.
But the win came at a cost for Central Coast after Brad Tapp left the game in the 61st minute with what looked like recurrence of a knee injury, and in the 76th minute, Storm Roux also limped from the field with a possible foot issue.
MARINERS WASTE CHANCES
After a largely uneventful opening half-hour, the hosts had two golden opportunities to take the lead in the 31st minute when Torres played Kuol through, but from six yards out, the latter failed to get it past Young who stayed big and executed a magnificent save. From the follow-up, Torres’ strike from 10 yards out cannoned into the crossbar, and moments later, Theoharous’ shot from 20 yards out was too tame.
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In the 40th minute, the hosts looked destined to open the scoring again when Theoharous sprinted down the right and crossed it to Kuol in a very dangerous position, but City defender Jordon Hall was there to get his boot in and execute a sensational block of Kuol’s close-range shot to deny the Mariners the lead again.
Central Coast had to be content with a 0-0 stalemate at the break, but they only had to wait five minutes after half-time to grab the lead via Theoharous.
TIDE TURNS CITY’S WAY
Melbourne almost equalised immediately when Andrew Nabbout crossed it beautifully to Jamie Maclaren, but the competition all-time leading goalscorer’s sliding shot from a few yards out at the back post was stopped brilliantly by Vukovic.
In the 63rd minute, Callum Talbot’s pinpoint pass into the area found Maclaren whose powerful strike was once again thwarted by Vukovic. Shortly after, Arslan cut a swath through the Mariners defence, after receiving a delightful backheel pass from Leo Natel, but the German star’s shot on goal was stopped by another outstanding Vukovic save.
City finally scored in the 79th minute courtesy of Ugarkovic and came close to grabbing the lead a few minutes later when Maclaren’s deft chip over Vukovic tantalisingly floated onto the roof of the net. But Torres would have the final say.
— NCA NewsWire