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| ROUND 17: Friday 14th December Wellington Phoenix 1 Queensland Roar 1 Adelaide United 1 Central Coast Mariners 2 Saturday 15th December Sydney FC 2 Perth Glory 4 Sunday 16th December Melbourne Victory 1 Newcastle Jets 3 ROUND 15 POSTPONED: Saturday 22nd December Central Coast Mariners 4 Sydney FC 5 ROUND 18: Friday 28th December Adelaide United v Sydney FC (8.00) Sunday 30th December Newcastle Jets v Wellington P'nix (7.00) Perth Glory v Queensland Roar (9.00) Sunday 31st December Central Coast M'ners v Melb Victory (6.00) |
| After a waterlogged pitch caused the postponement of the Central Coast Mariners v Sydney FC derby, the match was rescheduled to 22nd December, the Saturday before Christmas. The match turned out to be a classic, widely considered to be the greatest match in the short history of the A-League. A massive crowd of over 17,500 packed Central Coast Stadium, and the majority of them were quickly feeling hopeful when a free from Jedinak deflected off the wall and into the Sydney goal. And on 15 minutes, a perfect cross from Tom Pondeljak found John Aloisi, and the Mariners were 2-0 ahead. But just a minute later, the momentum of the match was to shift when Mariners keeper Danny Vukovic handled the ball outside the box, earning him a red card from referee Matthew Breeze. Sasho Petrovski was benched to allow reserve keeper Matthew Trott to take the field, but the Mariners were down to 10 men. On 33 minutes, a corner from Ufuk Talay was gathered by Iain Fyfe, who got a goal back for Sydney FC; cutting the half-time margin back to 2-1. 4 minutes after the break, a Sydney corner found Tony Popovic, who attempted a header. The header was saved, but the deflection found its way to Terry McFlynn, who cannoned home the goal to level the scores. The 10-man Mariners side was struggling to keep up with the game, but they received some much-needed breathing space when substitute Matt Simon was brought down in the box, with Greg Owens making no mistake from the penalty spot. Mariners 3-2 on the hour. The match was moving at a breakneck speed, with the massive crowd well and truly getting their money's worth. On 71 minutes, young Sydney striker Adam Biddle beat the offside trap and with only the keeper to beat made no mistake to level the scores again. 5 minutes later, Sydney was in front after a quality strike from Brendon Santalab found the net. Would Sydney, now 4-3 ahead and with an extra man on the field cruise to victory? No, the Mariners weren't done yet; and with just 4 minutes left on the clock a strike from Kwasnik beat the outstretched arms of Sydney keeper Ivan Necevski into the net. 4-4 - would it be a draw? The sign came up that 4 minutes would be added on, but it would turn out to be plenty more than that. The Mariners had already used all their subs when Dean Heffernan had a nasty collision which resulted in a broken leg. As the stretcher carried him off, the Mariners were to play the remainder of the game with just 9 men left on the field. |
Sydney moved it downfield. The ball went inside to Santalab, who attempted to head home the
winner. An instinctive handball save by Kwasnik prevented the goal from going through, but this was
to earn Kwasnik a red card and send Ufuk Talay to the spot. The last kick of the game would
determine the outcome.
Talay made no mistake, and Sydney FC had taken a 5-4 victory. The crowd were in hysterics after
what had been a remarkable match - the Sydney fans celebrated while the Mariners fans watched on
in stunned disbelief. It had been an amazing night, and football was the true winner. 9 goals, all from
different scorers, 2 red cards, some amazing strikes, and the highest quality club football ever played
in Australia.
Click here to see Harboursport's photo gallery from this match.
Central Coast Mariners 4 (M Jedinak 3, J Aloisi 15, G Owens 63pen, A Kwasnik 83) Sydney FC 5
(I Fyfe 33, T McFlynn 49, A Biddle 71, B Santalab 76, U Talay 90pen).
Yellow Cards : Mariners - J Hutchinson 44, A Wilkinson 83. Sydney - T Popovic 62, M Robertson
78, U Talay 90.
Red Cards : Mariners - D Vukovic 16, A Kwasnik 90.
Referee - M Breeze. Crowd - 17,514 at Central Coast Stadium.
winner. An instinctive handball save by Kwasnik prevented the goal from going through, but this was
to earn Kwasnik a red card and send Ufuk Talay to the spot. The last kick of the game would
determine the outcome.
Talay made no mistake, and Sydney FC had taken a 5-4 victory. The crowd were in hysterics after
what had been a remarkable match - the Sydney fans celebrated while the Mariners fans watched on
in stunned disbelief. It had been an amazing night, and football was the true winner. 9 goals, all from
different scorers, 2 red cards, some amazing strikes, and the highest quality club football ever played
in Australia.
Click here to see Harboursport's photo gallery from this match.
Central Coast Mariners 4 (M Jedinak 3, J Aloisi 15, G Owens 63pen, A Kwasnik 83) Sydney FC 5
(I Fyfe 33, T McFlynn 49, A Biddle 71, B Santalab 76, U Talay 90pen).
Yellow Cards : Mariners - J Hutchinson 44, A Wilkinson 83. Sydney - T Popovic 62, M Robertson
78, U Talay 90.
Red Cards : Mariners - D Vukovic 16, A Kwasnik 90.
Referee - M Breeze. Crowd - 17,514 at Central Coast Stadium.
