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05Apr22
Central Coast Put Wellington To Sword
by Jeremy Ruane
Central Coast Mariners inflicted another heavy defeat on Wellington Phoenix in the Isuzu Ute A-League encounter at Central Coast Stadium on April 5, this 5-0 hiding coming just days after the visitors had shipped six at the hands of league leaders Melbourne City.
The home team were on the front foot from the outset, Noah Smith leading a left flank raid which saw him pick out Beni N'Kololo, who stumbled in the act of shooting. Oliver Sail blocked his effort, but Marcos Urena latched onto the rebound, only to see Tim Payne divert his shot inches past the post just eighty seconds after referee Daniel Elder had blown his whistle to get things under way.
When he next blew his whistle, it was to signal a penalty for Coast after Louis Fenton had felled N'Kololo in the penalty area as he looked to latch onto Urena's pass. Urena did the honours from twelve yards, drilling his penalty under the dive of Sail in the eighth minute.
Two minutes later, Payne blocked another effort to safety, this time from the lively Josh Nisbet, while the All Whites defender stood firm to foil a Jason Cummings drive in the eighteenth minute, seconds after Gael Sandoval had fired Wellington's first shot in anger, a twelve yard attempt which went past the far post.
Wellington were up against it in the 24th minute when they conceded their second goal. Sail denied Jacob Farrell in fine style, at the expense of a corner, which Nisbet played short to N'Kololo. The striker cut inside and curled a shot into the far corner of the net - 2-0.
The visitors' goal led a charmed life on the half-hour, with Max Balard seeing his shot blocked and N'Kololo, having latched onto the rebound, rattling the crossbar with his attempt to increase Central Coast's advantage still further.
His effort was matched at the other end of the park by David Ball four minutes later, the striker's header crashing off the crossbar after he had been picked out by Sandoval's cross. It was a very rare foray by Wellington, however, and they look and are playing very much like a team which is running on empty, the combination of injuries and Covid-related absences severely testing resources already challenged by being based abroad.
That said, they began the second half brightly, and were on the front foot for the bulk of the opening ten minutes. But when Fenton conceded a second penalty nine minutes into the second spell by tripping raiding fullback Lewis Miller, another heavy defeat was on the cards, with Cummings sending Sail the wrong way from twelve yards to make it 3-0
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with 35 minutes still to play.
Having had a sniff of goal, Cummings fancied more goals, and on the hour he latched onto a ball on the right and weaved past three opponents before letting fly from twenty yards, only to be denied by a stunning full-length diving save low to his left by Sail.
The home team introduced some fresh legs to the fray soon afterwards, with youngster Garang Kuol making a near-instant impact via a blocked shot. Payne's penchant for blocking opponents' attempts continued in the 65th minute, much to the frustration of Matheus Moresche, but there was no denying Central Coast's fourth goal three minutes later.
A raking ball forward from Miller found Kuol darting in behind the defence, and with one touch he expertly directed the dropping ball on the volley past the approaching figure of Sail - 4-0, and an exquisite strike with which to achieve it, especially when one considers the scorer is just seventeen.
Only another fine full stretch save by Sail kept it at four in the 77th minute, the 'keeper denying Nicolai Muller's bid to turn home a cross from Miller. This prompted Wellingtom to carve out a couple of openings in response, but Reno Piscopo's shot was deflected the safety, while his cross was headed past the post by Scott Wootton.
Both goalkeepers produced top-class saves to prevent the scoreline from being changed in the dying minutes of the match, with Sail denying Moresche before Ben Waine met his match in Mark Birighitti.
Central Coast weren't to be denied a fifth goal, however, and they scored it with the last kick of the game. Harrison Steele released Muller down the right, from where he picked out Matthew Hatch with a cross.
His first shot was blocked at close quarters by Sail, but his deft chip of the rebound deceived the 'keeper and bisected the covering defence before the net bulged for the final time in this largely one-sided encounter.
Central Coast: Birighitti; Miller, Hall, Rowles, Farrell; N'Kololo (Kuol, 63), Nisbet, Balard (Steele, 82), Smith (Hatch, 34); Cummings (Muller, 63), Urena (Moresche, 63)
Wellington: Sail; Elliot, Wootton (booked, 90), Payne, Fenton (booked, 89); Sandoval, Pennington (Sotirio, 62), Sutton, Old (Piscopo, 62); Ball (Bidois, 74), Waine
Referee: Daniel Elder
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