Frustrated coach John van ‘t Schip was full of praise for his players after watching his Melbourne Heart team lose their Hyundai A-League match 3-1 against the Central Coast Mariners at Gosford on Saturday night.
Frustrated coach John van ‘t Schip was full of praise for his players after watching his Melbourne Heart team lose their Hyundai A-League match 3-1 against the Central Coast Mariners at Gosford on Saturday night.
The Mariners had luck on their side for the first two goals, including a second half penalty taken by Daniel McBreen which put the home team in the lead for a second time at Bluetongue Stadium.
Referee Gerard Parsons awarded a penalty against Jonatan Germano that was duly converted by McBreen.
The controversy started in first half injury time when Mariners striker Matt Simon scored despite tangling with Heart goalkeeper Clint Bolton as a corner was taken.
Play was allowed to go on and Simon finished well to give the home team the lead just before the break.
Van’t Schip also questioned whether the corner should have been given at all with Mariners striker Bernie Ibini appearing to be the last person to touch the ball.
“The referees have a big influence in some games,” the Heart coach said in the post match press conference.
“These are really big decisions they make. The referee can’t see everything but Clint was getting held by Simon. It was not a corner anyway, it was two things in a row.”
“You can’t change it. We made it very difficult for them, the team is growing. Coming from behind is difficult but the last 30 minutes before the penalty we were getting better and better.”
Mariners coach Graham Arnold admitted his side had some luck as it made it five matches without defeat.
“Sometimes you need luck,” Arnold said.
“It was a difficult day at the office. The boys were not 100 percent on like last week but they kept fighting. The positive is that we didn’t play well but still got three points.”
It was Mariners skipper Alex Wilkinson’s 150th match for the club and he turned in a typically assured performance in defence.
“To get two late goals and win at home is fantastic,” Wilkinson said.
