It was an old fashioned scrap at Campbelltown Stadium on Friday night.
Central Coast Mariners and Macarthur FC threw haymakers at each other throughout an enthralling 90 minutes of action in Sydney’s south-west – the former coming out on top with a 2-1 victory in the Isuzu UTE A-League.
Marco Tulio and Jason Cummings gave the visitors a two-goal lead before half-time and it looked as if second-placed Central Coast would waltz on to victory, having weathered the early storm from the Bulls and hit them with two sucker-punches going back the other way.
However, the Bulls would have other ideas, with head coach Dwight Yorke waving the red cape and inciting a much-needed response from his charges, who fought themselves back into the contest after half-time.
Daniel Arzani’s half-time introduction proved to be inspiring, getting the assist to tee-up Matt Millar, who pulled one back with over half-an-hour remaining – setting up a grand-stand finish where Macarthur threw everything and some at the Mariners.
But in the end, Central Coast held firm, coming away with a third straight win from a bruising, tough affair where they were well and truly made to work for it in the second 45.
Mariners head coach Nick Montgomery – the Isuzu UTE A-League Coach of the Month for December – opened up on the “emotion” of the game, dedicating the result to a young fan – who died in a car accident on the Central Coast this week.
“It was like a Friday night boxing match towards the end,” Montgomery told Paramount+.
I was in disbelief watching out there towards the end. Just anything went and I would have loved to play out there tonight. No fouls, just play on and thought massive credit to the boys… we got stuck on the bus three and a half hours today.
“We turned up a little bit leggy at the start, it’s not our best performance but to be honest, Macarthur come out second half, give it a go. On the counter, we should have killed the game off so many times.
“We’re just delighted for the boys and I want to dedicate that tonight, to the young boy the Mariners fan who passed away this week in a tragic car accident and the boys knew that tonight. So I know (there was) a lot of emotion tonight.
“It’s not an easy place to come here and win games of football and you can see they scrap and fight for everything. Well, our boys scrap and fight for everything as well. So we deserved the three points.”
Yorke also weighed in on the second half, believing the viewers would have enjoyed the “spectacle” given how open the contest became once the Bulls started to mount a fightback.
“Listen, I’m sure the viewers at home, they probably think it was a great spectacle because it was pretty much end to end stuff,” Yorke told Paramount+.
“Two teams really going at each other, one really trying to get back into the game, one is holding on and there were chances at both ends.
The game could have easily been four apiece. It was one of those nights and unfortunately we came out second best tonight.
But for the Mariners, it’s three points in the bag and second spot in the Isuzu UTE A-League table wrapped up for another week as the gap between themselves and first-placed Melbourne City (who have two games in hand) narrows to only three points.
The Central Coast supporters are also feeling the excitement of their recent spate of good form, with a large contingent of active support making the trip south to will on their team.
“It’s a huge win for us, a tough game especially in the second-half but we keep being strong and finally we won and look at the fans,” Beni N’Kololo told Paramount +, while standing in-front of the travelling fans post-game.
“They are so happy, we are so happy tonight. Tough game but finally we won and we are very happy.”
