Melbourne Heart left broken at Bluetongue

A combination of Matt Simon brilliance and Gerard Parsons’ ignorance has resulted in a 3-1 win to the Central Coast Mariners over Melbourne Heart.

The Central Coast Mariners' first two goals were scored in controversial circumstances against the Melbourne Heart, who were unlucky not to take any points away from the clash, with the score line not a true reflection of the match.

The heavens opened up on the stormy Central Coast for this afternoon’s A-league fixture between the Central Coast Mariners and the Melbourne Heart providing conditions that were perfect for football.

The crowds were down although the Mariners were eager to extend their unbeaten four game run with young gun Mustafa Amini making his first start to the season who slotted in to the traditional number 10 role of the midfield diamond.

There was nothing to write home about in the first 20 minutes with the danger men from both sides failing to make an impact.

The first real chance came in the 22nd minute through Matt Thompson who put the ball wide after losing his footing just before taking the shot.

Patrick Zwaanswijk received the first yellow card of the match on the half hour mark when he fouled Maycon, who was proving to be a real danger man for the Heart.

Alex Wilkinson’s 150th game in the A-league was shaping up as a snore-fest as the latter stages of the half continued in a lacklustre fashion with the crowd and Graham Arnold having little to be pleased about.

The match took a turn on the stroke of half time amongst a series of controversial decisions made by referee, Gerard Parsons, when the Mariners scored their first goal off a corner.

Simon looked to have fouled Bolton as he came off his line, however no foul was awarded, with Simon dispatching the ball well to give his side a one nil lead heading into the break.

The pace of the match started to really pick up during the second half as play opened up and the Mariners provided more attacking spark replacing Amini with McBreen.

In the 78th minute two Melbourne Heart substitutes combined from a set piece to level the wager at one a piece.

Aziz Behich sent in a looping cross from a free kick with Eli Babalj sending a header crashing past a stranded Pasfield and into the net.

Shortly after Germano was ruled to have handled the ball inside his own box despite replays showing the contact was with the chest, with Parsons' controversially awarding a penalty to the Mariners.

Daniel McBreen stepped up to drive the ball into the bottom corner to take a late 2-1 lead in the 82nd minute.

Two minutes later Patrick Zwaanswijk leaped above the Heart’s defence from a corner to score a towering header and put the final nail in the coffin of the Melbourne Heart.

The game ended the Heart’s impressive run on a harsh note and stretched the Mariners' winning streak to five games.

Central Coast Mariners: Joshua Rose 3, Pedj Bojic 4, Patrick Zwaanawijk 6, John Hutchinson 7, Rostyn Griffiths 8, Bernie Ibini 9 (Troy Hearfield 12 ’56), Michael McGlinchey 14, Alex Wilkinson18 (c), Matthew Simon 19 (Adrian Pelegrino ’85), Justin Pasfield (gk), Mustafa Amini 22 (Daniel McBreen 2 ’70).

Melbourne Heart: Clint Bolton 1 (gk), Michael Marrone 2, Brendan Hamill 3, Fred 5 (c), Matthew Thompson 6, Rutger Worm 7, Maycon 9, Wayne Srhoj 10 (David Williams 15 ’56), Jonatan Germano 13, Curtis Good 18, Adrian Madaschi 25.

Attendance: 7242

The Football Sack ‘Player of the year’ points:

3 Matt Simon

2 Mustafa Amini

1 Maycon