Queensland Roar have further entrenched themselves in second spot on the National Youth League ladder with a gutsy 2-1 win over the Central Coast Mariners in a physical match at Ballymore Stadium.
The home side grabbed the lead in the fourth minute through Tim Smits before the visitors drew level less than ten minutes later with a penalty strike from Darko Vidovic.
The match then ebbed and flowed before Queensland started to build momentum late in the second half, culminating in a clever 80th minute winner from Tommy Oar.
The win lifts the Roar to 21 points for the season, nine behind runaway competition leaders Sydney FC.
The hosts started lively and took little time to get on the scoreboard when a sliding Smits found the back of the net after a sharp pass from captain Adam Sarota.
Central Coast’s spirits were not sunk and they found an equaliser soon after when referee Alan Milliner awarded a penalty for a handball in the box.
Vidovic stepped up to take the shot and calmly fired it low and right past Roar keeper Matt Action to square the game up.
The visitors had a couple of good chances to take the lead during the first half, with Greg Owens, who received a yellow card in the 38th minute, and Vidovic often able to find space in the box, only to fire wide and or high of the target.
Queensland’s defence was often under siege, but the home side was able to soak up the pressure and also had a handful of opportunities to take the lead during the first half.
The best of which came from Sarota in the 25th minute when he made solid contact with a header, only to fire straight at Mariners keeper Matthew Nash.
The second stanza started slowly but quickly warmed up as the Roar started to string together meaningful surges forward and mount pressure.
Sarota came within a whisker of finding the back of the net in the 73rd minute with a curling wonder-strike from a free kick just outside the box that thoroughly tested Nash.
Nash made an excellent one-handed diving save, tipping the ball over the crossbar, but he had no answers seven minutes later to a clever chip from Oar.
The 17-year-old, who last week made his Hyundai A-League debut against Newcastle, delicately lobbed the ball over Nash from the edge of the penalty box, must to the frustration of the keeper who had started to come off his line.
The two teams attacked desperately in the final minutes, but in the end the home side was able to hold on.
Match Details
Queensland Roar 2 (Tim SMITS 4-, Tommy OAR 81-)
Central Coast Mariners 1 (Darko VIDOVIC (pen) 14-)
Saturday 20 December
Ballymore Stadium
Local kick off 3.30pm (4.30pm AEDT)
Referee: Alan Milliner
Assistant Referees: Noah Reynolds, David Walsh
Fourth Official: Nathan MacDonald
Queensland Roar line up: 1.Matt ACTON (gk), 5.Luke BRATTAN, 6.Matt MUNDY, 7.Robbie KRUSE (9.Tyler THURTELL 51-), 8.Tim SMITS (OA), 10.Adam SAROTA (c), 12.Tommy OAR, 13.David DODD, (OA) (3.Mitch BEVAN 46-), 14.Ben GRIFFIN (OA), 15.William TUMUSIIME (2.Daniel BOWLES 46-), 16.Andrew PACKER (OA).
Substitutes not used: Nil.
Yellow cards: Nil.
Red Cards: Nil.
Central Coast Mariners line up: 1.Matthew NASH (OA), 2.Steven TIBBETTS, 4.Paul O’GRADY (OA), 7.Matthew LEWIS, 9.Andrew CLARK (OA), 10.Glen TRIFIRO, 11.Darko VIDOVIC, 12.Scott WRIGHT (3.Nick KAPSIS 62-), 13.Laurence BRAUDE, 14.Greg OWENS (OA) (6.Ty OWENS 56-), 17.Sean MITCHELL (21.Ashley BALCOMB 62-).
Substitutes not used: Nil.
Yellow cards: Greg OWENS 38-, Steven TIBBETTS 73-.
Red Cards: Nil.
