Playing the kids, Central Coast Mariners have emerged as one of the entertainers in the Isuzu UTE A-League. They also find themselves second in the table and chasing leaders Melbourne City.
In their first game of the New Year and first of the post-Garang Kuol era, the Mariners crushed 10-man Adelaide United 4-0 in Gosford on Saturday.
A pair of own goals and strikes from Beni N’Kololo and Jacob Farrell guided the Mariners to a fourth consecutive home win in the A-League Men – their best run since 2014.
The Mariners are six points adrift of reigning premiers City as they continue to impress in 2022-23 and emerge as a title contender.
For Nick Montgomery, the message is clear.
“Everybody writes us off,” Mariners head coach Montgomery said when asked if his team can go all the way this season.
“They wrote us off last year, they wrote us off at the start of this season.
“It’s no secret, we’re the youngest team with the smallest budget in the league. But that’s what this club is about – it’s about being the underdog and rising above it.”
Trailing 1-0 at half-time, Adelaide’s hopes were dashed when veteran midfielder IsaÃas Sánchez was sent off just 10 seconds into the second half.
Isaias was given his marching orders immediately after the restart when he unleashed a dangerous swinging leg tackle from behind on Farrell.
The floodgates opened after that as Central Coast slammed through three goals in the next 12 minutes.
It would have been even worse if not for Samuel Silvera’s 66th-minute strike being rubbed out by VAR after a team-mate was ruled offside.
Adelaide’s worst-ever loss remains a 7-1 defeat to Brisbane Roar in 2011 when Besart Berisha scored a first-half hat-trick on the way to four goals for the match.
But Saturday’s result felt just as deflating as the Reds produced arguably the worst second half in the club’s history.
Adelaide slipped to fifth and are in danger of dropping further after winning just one of their past five matches.
“We have been quite harsh on any studs making contact. I haven’t agreed with a lot of them,” Adelaide head coach Carl Veart said of the incident.
“That’s something that we, as a league, are a lot tougher on than anywhere else in the world.”
“For us, it’s one to clear from the mind and to forget as soon as possible,” Adelaide skipper Craig Goodwin said of the horror result.
