Central Coast Mariners are set for another exciting season if their AFC Champions League Elite opener is anything to go by!
Two-time reigning Isuzu UTE A-League champions Mariners were somewhat unfortunate to lose 3-1 away to Chinese Super League outfit Shandong Taishan in a fiery showdown on Tuesday, having dominated the opening half.
After Mikel Doka dramatically equalised in the ninth minute of first-half stoppage time, 2023-24 Champions League quarter-finalists restored their lead in the 74th minute but Trent Sainsbury hit the post while Alou Kuol forced a fine diving save from Wang Dalei late on.
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As the Mariners pushed numbers forward, Valeri Qazaishvili sealed the result with his second of the game during the closing stages, however, Central Coast can take a lot away from their first competitive fixture since August 7 and with Round 1 in the A-Leagues still a month away.
While Central Coast left China empty-handed, there was a debut for scholarship player Arthur De Lima, while Nicolas Duarte and Bailey Brandtman made their Champions League bows for the Mariners.
This was Central Coast’s first appearance in the AFC Champions League proper since 2014, when they came up against Beijing Guoan, Sanfrecce Hiroshima and FC Seoul a decade ago.
Fast forward 10 years and the Mariners entered this contest coming off an historic treble-winning campaign, capped by an AFC Cup triumph.
All eyes were on the Mariners, though, and how they would cope with the fact they remain in pre-season while Shandong Taishan have five rounds remaining in the CSL.
In the lead up to the ACL Elite opener, head coach Mark Jackson told aleagues.com.au the Mariners have to “think outside of the box”.
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“We want to look at this as ‘okay, that’s a given they’re in their season, how are we going to combat that?’. We have to go there, prepared and ready,” Jackson said.
“…In the early stages of the Champions League because they have the advantage of being in season already, we are going to have to utilise that and our non-starting players are going to have to be ready to impact the game. Having that clear plan, that clear understanding of how we want to play, what the opponent is going to bring and how we combat that is going to be vital because lets be honest, we’re playing against some top, top teams with big, big budgets.
“But that’s where we want to be. That’s where I want to be as a head coach, that’s where my staff want to be and that’s where the players want to be. They want to be challenging against top-end teams against top-end players in big stadiums against big crowds. We say bring it on.”
This was Central Coast’s first competitive fixture since being upstaged by NPLM VIC side Heidelberg United in the Australia Cup Round of 32 on August 7, but you would not know it.
Sabit Ngor played for Heidelberg in that extra-time upset more than a month ago, and on Tuesday night, the promising forward made his Mariners debut on the continental stage and he was among six Central Coast signings in the starting XI, headlined by new captain Sainsbury, who was back representing the Gosford club for the first time since 2014.
Central Coast’s bench was also very exciting with scholarship players Haine Eames and Arthur De Lima among the substitutes, as was academy product Sasha Kuzevski and young gun Bailey Brandtman.
Despite Central Coast’s lack of competitive football, they were the more dominant side to begin with on the road.
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But while the Mariners started brightly, Shandong broke the deadlock against the run of play in the eighth minute as Bi Jinhao showcased his aerial prowess with a glancing header beyond Adam Pavlesic.
Lucas Mauragis nearly restored parity 13 minutes later – his swerving shot caused a lot of problems for Wang, who was forced to get down low to push the dipping effort away for a corner.
Doka was in the thick of the action throughout the opening half, and especially during the closing stages as tempers boiled over in a chaotic end to the first half.
Shandong thought the referee had blown the whistle for half-time, however, he was instead reviewing a potential penalty following a foul on Brad Tapp.
After the VAR review, Central Coast were sensationally awarded a spot-kick, much to the anger of Shandong, whose protests were ferocious.
The drama did not end there as Central Coast players surrounded the penalty spot to ensure no Shandong player damaged the area before Doka stepped up to try to convert.
Mariners forward Ryan Edmondson was clearly frustrated as the Englishman was booked before being seen saying, “This is a f****** joke” due to the extended delay in play.
Once play resumed, Brazilian star Doka made no mistake from the spot in the ninth minute of stoppage time – prompting a celebration right in front of the Shandong fans, with the Mariner giving the hosts the silent treatment.
It did not go down well with the Shandong players as goalkeeper Wang pushed Doka before his teammates surrounded the Mariners full-back, with tempers boiling over.
Shandong Taishan started to assert themselves more in the second half, even hitting the post as they went within a whisker of re-taking the lead.
They did hit the front once more with 16 minutes remaining via Valeri Qazaishvili.
The Mariners should have equalised five minutes later but Sainsbury’s header bounced back off the post in what was a huge let off for the hosts and Qazaishvili went on to seal the deal late on.
