A second-half blitz has helped Central Coast Mariners to an impressive 2-0 win over Perth Glory in Gosford on Saturday afternoon.
The Mariners rode their luck in the first stanza before quick-fire goals to Josh Bingham and Fabio Ferreira handed Paul Okon’s side just their third win of the season. Â
Central Coast started the brighter and looked threatening in the early stages but failed to truly test Liam Reddy in the Glory goal.
Perth settled into the contest and should have taken the lead into the half-time interval with Diego Castro, Adam Taggart and Andy Keogh all wasting clear-cut chances in the opening period.
The Mariners raced out of the blocks at the start of the second stanza and blew a golden opportunity to open the scoring with Trent Buhagiar smacking the post from close range with only Reddy to beat.
But their pressure told less than 60 seconds later with Josh Bingham firing home a loose ball after a mistake from Glory midfielder Milan Smiljanic.
And they doubled their advantage just five minutes later with Fabio Ferreira firing home from the penalty spot after Glory fullback Josh Risdon was adjudged to have handled the ball inside the box.
Glory star Diego Castro had a glorious chance saved with just over 10 minutes remaining before a red card to keeper Liam Reddy ended any chance of a comeback in the latter stages.Â
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GOALS
1-0: Central Coast Mariners: Josh Bingham, 47’
Mariners skipper Nick Montgomery was dispossessed inside the box with the ball falling to Bingham who buried the ball home from close range. The referee’s assistant initially flagged for offside but the goal was correctly awarded after Glory’s Milan Smiljanic was adjudged to have steered the ball into Bingham’s path.
2-0 Central Coast Mariners: Fabio Ferreira, 52’
The Mariners were awarded a spot kick after Glory’s Josh Risdon handled the ball inside the area and Ferreira made no mistake from 12 yards, dinking a cheeky ‘panenka’ past the helpless Liam Reddy.
KEY MOMENT
Adam Taggart will be wondering how he didn’t put the Glory ahead in the 40th minute after absolutely butchering a certain goal. Perth burst forward on the counter attack and Diego Castro fired a brilliant ball across the face for Taggart but the striker inexplicably missed the ball completely with the goal at his mercy from six yards.
RED CARD
Glory keeper Liam Reddy was shown a straight red card after being caught with the ball outside of the area before cutting down Trent Buhagiar with the goal at his mercy.Â
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