Central Coast Mariners now sit sixth on the Isuzu UTE A-League ladder after beating Macarthur Bulls 3-1 at Campbelltown Sports Stadium in a game where the home side had two players sent off.
Kick off was delayed by 25 minutes due to lightning strikes in the area but despite the late start the Bulls had the better of the early chances.
Striker Mitch Duke had a great chance to bag the opening goal in the 25th minute but the Socceroos forward headed over after connecting with a Callum Talbot cross.
Mariners youngster Bailey Brandtman came close to breaking the deadlock soon after but while his shot was saved by Bulls keeper Alex Robinson.
Less than two minutes later Brandtman was fouled inside the box by midfielder Anthony Caceres and Mariners midfielder Alfie McCalmont cooly slotted home the resulting penalty to make it 1-0.
Macarthur almost hit back on the stroke of half-time as young forward Dean Bosnjak fired a low shot into the palms of Andrew Redmayne but while the initial shot was saved by the keeper, an attempted clearance crashed back off of Bosnjak and onto the crossbar in a real let-off for the visitors.
The Mariners then doubled their lead in the 65th minute and it was Brandtman involved once again, this time firing a bouncing effort from the edge of the box towards goal which took a deflection off a Bulls defender before nestling in the back of the net.
Now two goals down the home side hit back almost immediately and it was a moment of magic from Caceres, who lashed an unstoppable strike from the edge of the box beyond Redmayne and into the net to make it 2-1.
However any chance of a dramatic fightback was then quashed as defender Tomislav Uskok was shown a straight red card almost immediately after the restart in the 68th minute for a late tackle on Mariners forward Nathanael Blair which was deemed to be serious foul play after a VAR check.
To make matters worse, Bulls goalkeeper Robinson was then sent off less than 10 minutes after that for the denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity when he brought down Blair and the home side were reduced to nine.
Seemingly the man of the moment, Blair then put the icing on the cake for the Mariners as he crept in ahead of Bulls substitute keeper Filip Kurto to poke home fellow sub Sabit Ngor’s cross to make it 3-1.
The result sees the Mariners leapfrog Macarthur into sixth position on the ladder having also played a game less than the Bulls.
As for Macarthur, defeat for Mile Sterjovski’s is their second in a row whilst the Bulls are now without a win in their last four matches.
WHAT THEY SAID
Hear from Central Coast Mariners boss Warren Moon after his side’s emphatic 3-1 win in Campbelltown.
Bailey Brandtman got himself on the scoresheet and put on an excellent performance to help his side to victory. He spoke to Paramount+ after the full time whistle.
