Mariners v WSW - Round 23

[Atomic]

I'm a bit lost for words to be honest... I don't know how I feel.

We played well, and like most, I think we were the better side. I don't know if it was a case of the football gods not smiling on us or we were just a bunch of f**king retards in front of goal.

Congrats to WS. Hershi was my MoM... so skilful, especially given the conditions. Hyphen played well in as much as he was solid at the back. As for us, Bernie, I think, would get my 3 points, but I wish he was more consistent. WeeMac put in his usual stellar shift and I saw Mont and Hutch do some pretty neat things in midfield.

As for the penalty, I applauded when Maty charged forward to take it. I felt 100% confident that he'd convert. 4 MISSES IN A ROW!!! That's gotta be an A-league record surely. #HeartBreaking.

As for the RBB... they were superb. They have set a new standard for active support and hopefully they have taught our crowd a thing or two about joining in. For the first time, I heard the western stand join in the chant "Yellow Army"... so that's progress. Also, their chants are slow and simple. I once commented that the YA version of Mariners clap, clap, clap was way too fast and was advised that if it was any slower then it would be a death march. Well, take a leaf out of RBB's book when it comes to timing.

 

[Roy Law]

Mariners Mugged​

The crime rate on the Central Coast went up a notch on Saturday: despite massive police presence the Western Sydney Wanderers stole the three points from the gutsy Mariners. Normally happy to steal hub caps the Westies may have just made off with the family silver.
A long, long time ago when football was played in knee length shorts and nailed-on sprigs, when there was a clear distinction between Amateur and Professional, the Corinthian Casuals would refuse to shoot at goal from the penalty spot as they thought it ungentlemanly to do so. It seems that the Mariners have adopted the same philosophy; Ryan’s poor penalty the fourth consecutive miss from the charity spot and almost certainly the most costly.
A massive crowd fronted up at Bluetongue in the most appalling conditions; the atmosphere was superb. They got their money’s worth in an absorbing encounter. The Mariners attacked from the start and continued to attack for the whole game; WSW were penned back, surviving only through determined desperate and intelligent defending. Michael Beauchamp and Nikolai Topor-Stanley were immense - they had to be under the Mariners relentless assault. The skill and confidence of the Mariners stood out despite the pouring rain; Bojic and Rose were prominent down the flanks. The Mariners defended high and pressed WSW, all the possession was with the men in yellow and navy. WSW were reduced to isolated breakaways, having to wait 27 minutes until their first cross into the penalty area from open play.
Chances for both sides were few: Zwaanswijk glanced a header wide in the early moments; he thought he should have done better. A well worked move on the right had Bernie hitting the ball over the bar; a brilliant run from Bojic almost had him through; Dappuzzo hit a half chance over the bar. The Mariners switched play from left to right and Bojic’s first time lay off was met by McBreen but blocked by Topor-Stanley.
Half-time came; 0-0 the scoreline, and the arm wrestle continued in the second half. The Mariners showed no sign of leg weariness, the Wanderers were encamped in their penalty area. In the 49th minute the ref gave one of those decisions from a melee at a corner; none of us could really know what happened. Penalty! Ryan rushed up to grab the ball and then hit a weak shot to the centre of the goal for Covic to save with his feet. It was a hugely frustrating moment.
Ono produced a rare shot for Ryan to save but the flow of football continued to pour down to the Wanderers penalty area. McBreen fired wide from a real scramble; Zwaanswijk rocketed a shot from a free kick which Covic saved; Bernie slammed a fierce drive from the right but too high and Covic saved again.
A super exchange of passes gave McGlinchey a chance but he couldn’t convert and then he produced a moment of magic for McBreen to hit the bar from close in, the ball rebounding down on to the goal line for the closest of near misses. It was all Mariners: “they are knocking on the door” said the commentators. WSW weren’t in the game at all and their mass of supporters were hoping against hope that they could hang on for a point and then that annoying shirt stripping substitute Labinot Haliti caught the Mariners defence square and gave Ryan no chance. It was the most brutal of muggings; completely undeserved, completely unfair. I threw my laptop out of the window, headbutted a brick wall and ran over an old lady on a pedestrian crossing. Mariners though, kept going, kept battling until the cruel end.
Mat Ryan will cop the blame but I don’t think the players could have done more: the physical effort was remarkable, the skill in the wet conditions outstanding, the mental attitude was just right. Against a determined disciplined negative opponent they never flinched from the battle, they kept playing their football to the end. The consolation for the coaching staff is that despite the pain of the defeat they showed that they are the best team in the competition – and it isn’t over yet. I am very proud to support a team as good as this.

MoM – McGlinchey who never stopped running, probing and attacking

 

[Gratis]

Feels like a GF loss and could amount to a premiership loss in the end. But it's not over yet - one WSW draw to a CCM win and we're back ahead on goal difference.

I can take losing a game especially when being outplayed. The Perth game sucked and shouldn't have happened but we didn't deserve to win that. I struggle to take a loss, though, when we deserved to win it. Especially such a season defining game.

With the way CCM played we are surely as good as we've ever been and times ahead look bright if we keep that up. This may be the GF year after all. Rather the Premiership over the GF any day (still not out of question just don't think WSW will slip up too much in the next 4 games). and a decent ACL run is a potential too.

 

[gull]

What a night, and what an incredible game!

Well done to the 18,700 who turned out in that horrible weather too.

I came out of the match with mostly positives. If we continue to play like that we'll win most matches. We've been lazy with our finishing for quite a while and it was going to hurt at some stage. Hopefully this is the turning point. BTW Patrick to always take our pens when playing please....

Reckon we'll still take the Premiership. We're now chasing which suits us, and WSW will feel the pressure a lot more now with us right on their tails. Should be a great finish to the season!

 

[Anon]

Why did no one from CCM/Yellow Army do anything about the racist banner? Banter is fine, but how can you tolerate that BS?
Starting to think "seabogans" is a pretty accurate description of you lot.

 

[dibo]

Why did no one from CCM/Yellow Army do anything about the racist banner? Banter is fine, but how can you tolerate that BS?
Starting to think "seabogans" is a pretty accurate description of you lot.

What banner?

 

[Anon]

I won't post what was written, but it was a Racist banner directed at Shinji Ono.

 

[nikko]

I won't post what was written, but it was a Racist banner directed at Shinji Ono.

well champ, provide some evidance or f**k off

 

[iEatHands]

I won't post what was written, but it was a Racist banner directed at Shinji Ono.

What banner?

 

[Anon]

"Shinji Ono ate my dog".

Are CCM fans all blind now?

 

[ALFan]

Hey Guys, just want to say thanks for the advice earlier in the week. The parking was great, the buffet at the club was sensational and a few beers at the Leagues Club went down well having a yack to some of our supporters and plenty of you guys as well.

As for the game, thought we were second best all night, conditions were terrible so considering that it was pretty good quality, Covic made a few important saves which kept us in it and then we got one on the break. I do give credit to our guys though when you're under the pump most of the game it takes a pretty good defence (and a bit of luck) to hold on and while ever you hold on you can nab one on the break which we ended up doing. As I said though we were second best all night.

In the terraces it was incredible, the pi$$ing down rain somehow added to the atmosphere and although they wont report it, there was plenty of 'yellow' in the crowd as well who made plenty of noise. I guess we are pretty lucky in a way to be be brand new, cos it means that everyone has come in to the Club at the same time so everyone knows the chants and everyone gets involved. I know you blokes probably wont be happy with the result but man if someone had told me 1 year ago that you would get over 19K to Bluetongue in the pissing down rain and the atmosphere would be like an OS match I would have laughed at them, So thanks for the hospitality and no doubt we will see you Grand Final day, where I honestly hope it goes to penalties!!!

 

[FFC Mariner]

Troll ignored.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Hey Guys, just want to say thanks for the advice earlier in the week. The parking was great, the buffet at the club was sensational and a few beers at the Leagues Club went down well having a yack to some of our supporters and plenty of you guys as well.

As for the game, thought we were second best all night, conditions were terrible so considering that it was pretty good quality, Covic made a few important saves which kept us in it and then we got one on the break. I do give credit to our guys though when you're under the pump most of the game it takes a pretty good defence (and a bit of luck) to hold on and while ever you hold on you can nab one on the break which we ended up doing. As I said though we were second best all night.

In the terraces it was incredible, the pi$$ing down rain somehow added to the atmosphere and although they wont report it, there was plenty of 'yellow' in the crowd as well who made plenty of noise. I guess we are pretty lucky in a way to be be brand new, cos it means that everyone has come in to the Club at the same time so everyone knows the chants and everyone gets involved. I know you blokes probably wont be happy with the result but man if someone had told me 1 year ago that you would get over 19K to Bluetongue in the pissing down rain and the atmosphere would be like an OS match I would have laughed at them, So thanks for the hospitality and no doubt we will see you Grand Final day, where I honestly hope it goes to penalties!!!

All credit to the WSW fans. Compared to visits from the scum, it was nice to be at a big game with no unpleasantness, no drunken 14yo spotty bogans acting up.

Thought Police and security were sensible and handled the crowd well.

 

[Anon]

Troll ignored.

Seems like you ignore racism also.

Flog

 

[BrisRecky]

WELL...its already been said so I wont repeat idle typings re: the crap weather, the continued attacking we hit the WSW with and the fact that blind freddy can see we cant sink a penalty...The Wanderers fans I met outside the ground seem to be bonz, they sure as hell can sing their hearts out( as can the YA) ...BUT...after all the shit the Bloc went through because of flares you would think they'd police themselves a bit better..anyway .chin up, I reckon we can still take the comp,...COYY

 

[tsd]

BUT... can I ask.... do we only know how to cross and hope for a tap in/header, or can we not have a few cracks from outside the box??? In these wet.... slippery conditions, surely it would've been worth having a few shots from outside the box. Seems the only one to try was Bernie and he was blocked every time

This had more to do with their defence than our intent, they dropped 5-6 players into the box when we got close, forcing players to try little crosses and thru balls to look for open angles.

 

[dibo]

"Shinji Ono ate my dog".

Are CCM fans all blind now?

I didn't see it, but speaking only for myself I would've had a word with the owner, had I seen it.

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

Anybody know anything about the dickheads throwing stuff at Covic?

 

[promdi442]

Anybody know anything about the dickheads throwing stuff at Covic?

In added time it looked as though Covic was wasting time taking a goal kick. Then I saw him slowly walk over and pick up something (a bottle not sure) in the penalty area and applaud the spectators for helping to waste a bit of time without fear of getting a yellow card. Whether there was any other incidents during the game i dont know But a dumb act by whoever threw the bottle.

 

[ALFan]

I think we all just have to realise that when you get a group of people together you are always going to find an idiot or two, its no different to the family christmas at my place. Sure the sooner we weed out the flare throwers, the bottle throwers and the occassional idiotic sign the better but if thats all you took out of the game last night with 22+ players working their holes out and 18+ thousand there for the football alone all in atrocious conditions then you are pretty hard to please.

Oh yea and on the football, that Fitzgerald of yours, super impressive, given more game time think he could have provided the cutting edge you needed and Topor Stanley was immense (and this coming from me who was filthy when they signed him as I have never been a fan of his as a player but this season he has been our best), might be biased but he should be back in the Socceroos lineup, he's better than anything we've got there at the moment