Mariners in hard fought win late on through Perez

Central Coast hosted rivals Newcastle United in the Round 30 Hyundai A-League F3 derby match up.

A wet and windy Bluetongue Stadium greeted both sets of fans as the result in the Wellington - North Queensland match earlier in the afternoon shot down the Jets chances of making the 2011 Hyundai A-League Finals Series.

The Mariners’ fielded Graham Arnold’s favoured 4-4-2 formation but with three changes from the midweek encounter against Gold Coast United. Pedj Bojic in for Trent Sainsbury, Patricio Perez for Mustafa Amini and Matt Simon was withdrawn in favour of Bernie Ibin-Isei who scored on debut last week.

Newcastle United made two changes from the Thursday night 4-0 win against Perth Glory. Taylor Regan for Sam Galloway at centre-back while Marko Jesic was forced to the bench with a slight injury giving Adam D’Apuzzo a chance to start in a holding role for the Jets.

The diminutive Argentine Perez had the first chance of the match on 21 minutes when some good work from fullback Josh Rose saw a cross delivered to Ibin-Isei who, with his back to goal played it first time on the volley to Perez. The number 10 is striking up a strong rapport with the Nigerian, as his run anticipated the first time touch but Perez’ shot on the reverse angle was well saved by Ben Kennedy in goals.

The Argentine-Nigerian combination in concert with the Aussie fullback Rose was at it again on the stroke of half time with a beautiful pass in behind the Newcastle defence opened up the Regan-Topor-Stanley combination. Perez then played it through to Rose who carried possession from wide into the box providing the Argentine with a golden opportunity to take the lead for the Mariners. Perez could not keep his shot down and no sooner had the ball flown into the stands, the Argentine has his head in the turf in embarrassment at missing the clear opportunity.

After a dominant second half display, the 90th minute and the Mariners’ 10th attempt in goal saw the game breaker late on. A nice piece of build up play again through Rose who played a pass to substitute Amini. Rose then continued his run as the young midfielder danced over the ball to create space. Rose was the recipient of a well weighted touch through defenders and followed this up with a delightful pass of his own from wide to gift Perez an impossible-to-miss chance from half a metre.

This left Central Coast taking seven points from a possible nine in F3 derbies this Hyundai A-League season. The importance of this statistic was not missed by Graham Arnold who broke a smile as the ball crossed the line for the winner as the game was drawing to a close.

Central Coast the victors securing second spot and the resultant major semi final match up the Hyundai A-League’s best ever regular season side Brisbane Roar at home next Saturday night. A mouth watering encounter indeed with Australia’s two best Managers matching wits over two legs.

Bring on the 2011 Hyundai A-League Finals Series.