Perth Pop Mariners Balloon
A penalty to Perth that should not have been; a penalty to the Mariners that should not have been; a goal to Perth that should have been disallowed for interfering with play; a goal denied for offside when Ibini was onside. Add a referee making his full A League debut and a distinct lack of assistance from his assistants and you have a recipe for calamity. What you don’t have is an excuse for the Mariners being completely outplayed by Perth.
For almost an hour, until the firecracker Mitchell Duke came on, the Mariners were second best all over the park. They simply didn’t have the legs, didn’t have the enthusiasm to compete. Apart from the penalty they didn’t force goalkeeper into a save in the first half; Liam Reddy was much the busier.
The pace of Chris Harrold and the trickery of Sidnei Sciola was already causing alarm in the Mariners defence when on five minutes Liam Reddy was forced into an awkward save from a fierce cross. As the ball rebounded John Hutchinson and Harrold went for the ball, Hutchinson got there first, the Perth man fell over and the referee blew for a penalty. Hutchinson, in his 200th A League game for the Mariners, was booked for complaining. It wasn’t a penalty, it should have been a no call but that didn’t bother the veteran McGarry who easily beat Reddy from the spot.
A few minutes later he had Reddy going full length after Josh Rose gave away possession; five minutes later Simon casually gave the ball away and Harrold shot wide. Giving away possession was something the Mariners kept doing throughout the first half.
They got it together well enough in the 17th minute with nice football down the right; Sterjovski passed the ball to Kim who fell over when challenged. It was a dive, there was almost no contact, but the referee fell for it and gave a penalty to the Mariners. Fitzgerald’s shot was unconvincing but the keeper went the wrong way.
It only seemed to inspire the Mariners to thuggery: Bosnar cynically chopped down Sydnei and then Simon recklessly clattered McGarry from behind; both got a yellow for their trouble.
Rostyn Griffiths, our Rostyn, the tallest player on the pitch left unmarked at a corner, headed over. Roux produced a marvellous cover tackle coming from the other wing to smother Harrold. The Mariners were struggling: they couldn’t handle Harrold and Sidnei. The midfield had no influence on the game, Caceres was disconnected and Hutchinson seemed subdued by his yellow card. Simon hardly got a touch of the ball. We needed Nick Montgomery. It happened unexpectedly just before half time when Kim appeared to pull a muscle and had to retire from play.
The second half started as the first had finished with the Mariners still giving the ball away. Perth came close when Harrold headed just wide. Duke came on for Simon and both teams upped the ante in search of the winner.
Duke’s impact was immediate, within five minutes he had more touches of the ball than Simon had the whole game. He looked for the ball, he took players on, he made things happen. Caceres began to beat people, combinations formed with Fitzgerald, Roux and Sterjovski. Roux finally forced the keeper into a save with a left foot shot from distance.
Perth responded with a fierce drive from Sydnei that whistled just over; Reddy was well beaten.
In the seventieth minute came calamity! Awful defending allowed Sidnei a free header from close range and he scored. It was just like the Wanderers goal last week; all defenders watching the ball not the man. It is as if the defenders are at the tennis, their heads going from right to left, and back again, as the ball goes across the penalty area. Anderson and Roux hopelessly exposed.
The Mariners tried to drag themselves back into it; Duke shot but didn’t get any purchase. Bernie came on for Fitzgerald. Harrold scorched Roux but shot wide. Rose cut inside for a right foot shot over the bar. And then the referee intervened.
A though ball to Sidnei, who is offside, Anderson sticks out a boot and deflects the ball into his own net. Technically the goal should be disallowed because Sidnei was interfering with play. If he had not been there Anderson would not have tried to intercept the ball. Frankly, I didn’t really care; Perth had looked the more likely and deserved their goal. More insult to injury was added when Bernie’s late goal was disallowed for offside when he was clearly on.
I can’t go too hard at the players; the results of recent weeks have exceeded all our expectations. These players have given their all. The swelling balloon of our optimism after recent results was emphatically popped by the sharp play of Perth. The Mariners, our Mariners, simply could not keep the momentum going after a heavy schedule and the journey to Perth that became even more exhausting because of a diversion to Adelaide. We needed three points today but so did all our rivals; next week’s finale to the regular season is going to be a cracker. Never write off the Mariners.
In a side that struggled for traction throughout I thought Bosnar our best defender, Roux impressed going forward, Duke gave a real lift when he came on but my MoM goes to the ever willing Fitzgerald who did not stop running and competing all game.
So very, very true
