Central Coast’s National Youth League resurgence continues with the Mariners downing the Australian Institute of Sport 3-0 at Pluim Park on the Central Coast on Tuesday night.
Confident after a resounding win against Newcastle last week, the Mariners maintained the momentum with an impressive performance against the AIS.
The strong win sees the in-form Mariners leapfrog the AIS into third place with six games remaining.
Striker Mitchell Duke was the star for the Mariners, scoring a goal in each half in one of his best performances of the season.
Duke opened the scoring in the 27th minute after AIS goalkeeper Aaron Lennox fumbled a well-placed cross from Marc Warren.
Duke had the easiest of jobs to tap home from close range.
The striker then displayed plenty of skill to score his second in the 54th minute.
Duke picked up possession on the edge of the box, beat the advancing Paul Izzo, who had replaced Lennox at the interval, with some good skill before shooting into an empty net.
He could have secured a hat-trick two minutes later but saw his low drive hit the left post with the goalkeeper well beaten.
Midfielder Jimmy Oates sealed what was a dominant performance from the home side with the third goal in the 79th minute.
Oates, who had plenty of good touches in the midfield, secured possession on the left and beat Izzo with a low drive from the edge of the box.
While the AIS looked good on the ball for stages in the first half they struggled to put enough pressure on the Mariners defence for long periods.
Mariners goalkeeper Paul Henderson, in his first start at any level for the club, was required to make two good saves, but for the most part Central Coast dominated.
Central Coast 3 (Mitchell Duke 27′, 54′ Jimmy Oates 79′)
AIS 0
