A Gavin Forbes goal with minutes remaining has given the Central Coast Mariners a 2-1 win over Adelaide United in their Round 8 National Youth League match at McKellar Park
It was a hard fought match from two of the competition’s top teams, which leaves the Mariners undefeated in second spot, only one point behind Sydney FC with a game in hand.
Having not lost for the first six rounds, Adelaide now sits on the fringe of the top four after its second straight defeat which could have quite easily gone the other way.
After a close first half which ended at one apiece, the Mariners came out of the sheds the better team and were unlucky not to score their second after three shots on target forced saves from Reds keeper Mark Birighitti.
When the Mariners brought off the experienced trio of Ahmad Elrich, Andrew Clark and Dylan Macallister midway through the second half it was Adelaide-s turn to dominate, and it looked most likely to come away with the three points.
Striker Inseob Shin was in fine form, he hit a curling free kick from outside the 18 yard box with 14 minutes to go which hit the right hand post, after a diving Andrew Redmayne got his fingertips to the ball.
Minutes later he was at it again, this time a left foot shot forced a block from Redmayne after he left three defenders in his wake.
But with two minutes left of normal time Forbes was the hero, he tried to put a bouncing Brady Smith ball over Birighitti who parried it into the air, only for Forbes to follow through with the winning header from close range.
It was the entertaining first half you would expect from two talent-laden squads.
Adelaide struck first when it latched onto some poor defensive worked by the Mariners, Francesco Monterosso layed it off for his captain Matthew Mullen who hit a low hard shot into the bottom right corner.
The Mariners were awarded a penalty with 15 minutes left in the half after Macallister was held by Michael Doyle as a corner came in.
Panagiotis Nikas made no mistake from the penalty spot, hitting it into the top right corner as Birighitti dove to no avail.
Central Coast Mariners 2 (Nikas 30pen, Forber 88)
Adelaide United 1 (Mullen 22)
