Central Coast Mariners win F3 Derby

A well drilled Central Coast Mariners walked away from Bluetongue Stadium two nil winners over a disorganised Newcastle Jets to bridge the gap between themselves and the number one spot on the Hyundai A-league ladder.

Set pieces again served crucial beneficiaries to the Mariners as Rostyn Griffiths converted a corner in the first half to go ahead whilst some Mustafa Amini class contributed to Matt Simon’s sixth goal against the Jets.

The Newcastle Jets made the trip south for their derby grudge match against the Central Coast Mariners at Bluetongue Stadium and they certainly delivered with large amounts of travelling support.

The notorious squadron were far from quiet as they packed out their supporter’s bay knowing that their past performances at this venue have not been great so their side were going to need all the help they could get.

As you could imagine there was plenty of rubbish talk pre-game but just after 5:30 both teams squared off for this week’s Hyundai A-league fixture with more than competition points on the line.

Their terrible form away from home continued as they left with no competition or bragging rights.

The pitch was posing huge issues for both sides as players were failing to keep their footing on most parts of the ground however it wasn’t doing enough to stop Matt Simon who shot from a tough angle early in the first half and continued to attack down both flanks uniting with youngster Bernie Ibini.

Referee Stebre Delovski knew from the get go that he was going to have to be at his best as every close decision evoked strong emotional uproars from either end of the ground, the first notable dispute was Labinot Haliti’s yellow card for a late sliding challenge on the Mariners Keeper Matthew Ryan which the Jets die-hards were not happy with.

The first half also provided not only a yelling competition within the stands but also a battle of two contrasting players in Bernie Ibini and Nikolai Topor Stanley that saw speed, agility and youth matched with physicality, leadership and experience that was evenly contested and both did everything they could to get the better of one another.

Mustafa Amini stepped up and showed how dangerous he is unleashing an impressive volley from distance forcing an equally impressive save from the Jets keeper who palmed the ball away in impressive fashion to award the Mariners with a corner.

As he has done all year, Michael McGlinchey provided a pin point corner onto the head of Rostyn Griffiths who leaped above his counterparts and neatly headed the ball into the net which gave the Mariners the opener and plenty of momentum in the 25th minute.

The goal is proof that the Mariners are one of the most dangerous teams in the league when it comes to set pieces and minutes later they showed why their open play is just as damaging as a typical John Hutchinson derby tackle triggered a Matt Simon run away who dribbled himself too wide to trouble Nash.

The goal fuelled more attacking brilliance for the Mariners who turned an evenly contested match into their own as Matt Simon continued his flare up front and also dropped back to help out his mates in defence to shut down the Jets.

It seemed the foot of Nikolai Topor Stanley was the only thing in the way of the Mariners second goal as a defensive blunder saw Amini gifted an opportunity in front of goal on the brink of half time as his deflected shot sailed over the crossbar to bring an end to the first half still standing at one nil.

The danger men proved ineffective for the Jets in the first half as the likes of Pedj Bojic and Rostyn Griffiths stood tall to work hard at both ends.

The Jets Head Honcho Gary Van Egmond was more than aware that things had to change in the second half as he stood and prepped youngster Ben Kantarovski in what looked like a football 101 lesson and a lengthy chat on the side line.

Labinot Haliti was also keen to get the ball rolling for the Jets as he tried his hardest to launch a solo attack and a shot from distance which saw the ball land in row Z of Bluetongue stadium.

The Jets made the first change of the match bringing on Francis Jeffers and immediately after Matt Simon silenced the Jets praise for the English Veteran by belting a point blank open goal into the top net.

Mustafa Amini was again “the creator” as his classy flick on found Bernie Ibini on the right hand side of the 18 yard box who played the ball along the ground into the six yard box beating the right hand of Matt Nash to find the foot of Matt Simon who needed no invite to put the Mariners two nil up in the 59th minute.

Five minutes later, the Mariners showed how badly they wanted to put the F3 Derby to bed as the left foot of Josh Rose passed across into Bernie Ibini who’s first time shot found a big portion of the crossbar.

The Jets performance was matched by the lack of quality of the surface at Bluetongue as the greasy pitch was arguably doing more to deter the attacking opportunities of the Mariners then the Newcastle defence was.

Bernie Ibini was involved once again as he started to really get the better of counterpart Topor Stanley by skewing a one on one challenge with the goal keeper just wide before the 80th minute.

The Mariners young gun left the field shortly after to a standing ovation and was replaced by the Central Coast Custodian Oliver Bozanic.

In the 90th minute the Mariners almost converted another set piece as substitute Daniel McBreen did what he does best by getting the best position in the air and headed the ball onto the crossbar of Newcastle from a corner.

The match ended two nil to the Central Coast who will look to take their impeccable form to the Brisbane Roar next week in their bid to claim top spot.

The Jets will take on Sydney next week in what will be a crucial match to stake some serious claims as competition front runners.

Central Coast Mariners: Matthew Ryan 1 (gk), Joshua Rose 3, Pedj Bojic 4, Patrick Zwaanawijk 6, John Hutchinson 7, Rostyn Griffiths 8, Bernie Ibini 9 (’87 Oliver Bozanic 11), Michael McGlinchey 14 (’82 Troy Hearfield 12), Alex Wilkinson18 (c), Matthew Simon 19, Mustafa Amini 22 ( ’76 Daniel McBreen 2).

Newcastle Jets: Nikolai Topor Stanley 4, Tiago Calvano 5, Kasey Wehrman 7, Jeremy Brockie 8, Ruben Zadkovic 10, Tarek Elrich 11, Jobe Wheelhouse 12 (c) (’80 Ben Kantarovski 6), Sung-Hwan Byun 13, Labinot Haliti 14 (’56 Francis Jeffers 24) , Matthew Nash 19 (gk), Ryan Griffiths 23.

Yellow cards: Labinot Haliti ‘12

Attendance: 10 643



The Football Sack ‘Player of the Year’ points:

3 Mustafa Amini

2 Matt Simon

1 Nikolai Topor Stanley