Mariners muscle-up in a night "better than sex"

Major semi final 2nd leg, CCM 3 v NJ 0 after extra time (3-2 on aggregate)

Tony Tannous @ Bluetongue Stadium

BRUTE force met the subtle craftsman at the Bluetongue last night and it was the Central Coast Mariners who came out on top, powering into the grand final in an edge-of-the-seat thriller, played out in front of one of the most electric and divided A-League crowds yet.

Demonstrating their physical strength in all the key areas, the Mariners proved far too strong for the Jets, not only reeling in a two goal deficit from the first leg, but going past them with an extra time classic from man of the match Sasho Petrovski.

Heading into this one, the idea that the Mariners could over-turn the two goals from the first leg looked very slim, especially when you considered that the Jets had scored so rampantly in the past two months; 13 goals in their past six games.

Indeed, it had been over two months (December 7) since the Jets hadn’t scored in a game, and an away goal here would have meant the Mariners needed four. Surely a task too big.

But football often has a knack of surprising, as this match so demonstrated.

While Gary van Egmond had pulled the first surprise pre-game by throwing in his new signing, South Korean Jin-hyung Song, the starting formations threw up a couple more.

First, for the Jets, Song was deployed on the right, as part of van Egmond’s three-man forward line, this despite word he was a central midfielder. Perhaps the manager wanted to keep him out of the heat in the early going, but even then he couldn’t escape the attentions of Alvin Ceccoli, who got him a couple of times.

Soon Song had his revenge, biting in with a studs-up challenge that had Ceccoli limping off. But the Korean was struggling with his wide posting, seemingly preferring to drop in and lend a hand in the middle, where the Jets were really struggling.

That’s because Lawrie McKinna had pulled a surprise of his own in the mixer by pairing Mile Jedinak with the equally combative John Hutchinson instead of the more subtle and skilful Tom Pondeljak, who was deployed on the right.

It was a central midfield built to destroy, and that’s exactly what they did, muscling up and strangling the life out of James Holland and the Jets’s two holders, Noel Spencer and Adam Griffiths.

All three had a miserable first half, and Spencer in particular struggled to dictate the play, turning over the ball far too often with sloppy distribution.

With Mark Bridge also having one of his worst A-League nights on left, the Jets had little outlet on the flanks, such a key part of their game, and with Spencer spraying his work all over the shop, it was the Mariners who bossed the game.

Clearly they were intent on stretching the Jets as wide as possible, and while Adam Kwasnik was hammering away at Tarek Elrich down one side, Pondeljak was chipping away at Matt Thompson down the other. All the while, the two front men, John Aloisi and Petrovski, were present, putting themselves about and causing headaches for Jade North and Andrew Durante.

The pressure was everywhere, and while the first half had few genuine goal-scoring moments and was generally very scrappy, it’s hard to argue the Mariners didn’t deserve their lead, as fortunate as it eventuated.

An hour in and van Egmond restored some hope for the Jets, bringing on Stuart Musalik for Spencer. The Jets were soon back into it and started gaining and controlling a bit more of the ball.

Ultimately they fell down because they had very little in the front third. While Joel Griffiths tried and tried, on this night he had very little support as Bridge and Holland were effectively shut-down, and Song struggled with the physicality.

Alex Wilkinson and Tony Vidmar had their best games in some time at the heart of the defence, the latter looking cool and calm when the pressure was on, just like his former Socceroos mate Craig Moore on Friday night.

That calm and desperation at the back and through the middle allowed the Mariners to power on upfield, where Alosi’s physical presence and Petrovski’s changes of angle pegged the Jets back.

The Jets defenders looked spent, the pressure eventually told, and by the time Petrovski levelled the tie it wasn’t a surprise.

Soon, early in extra time, they were ahead, breaking forward rapidly after the Jets had again given the ball away in their final third. Petrovski, exposing the space left by Elrich, ducked inside Durante, who couldn’t get close enough and thumped it in emphatically.

The momentum was with the hosts, but just one goal would be enough for their F3 rivals. Belatedly, Troy Hearfield was introduced and immediately was in behind, only to be denied the go-ahead by Vukovic’s head.

If the luck had deserted the Mariners in the first leg, then here it was with them, and deservedly so. Gary van Egmond now has a massive job of picking up his men for next week’s prelim against the Roar, while the Mariners, having finally shaken off the Jets bogey, can rest and wait.

It will be a wonderful couple of weeks for the Central Coast community.

The scenes outside the stadium and the leagues club afterwards were of disbelief and cheer joy. Walking out of the stadium, one local was overheard telling her husband and kids about a txt message she’d just received from a friend, assumingly also at the game; “That was better than sex”, her friend had written.

The ever-quick husband replied, “tell her that’s because you’re not doing it with my husband”.

A couple of years ago, in the corresponding clash in the minor semi final, there were 17,000 odd fans at Bluetongue, but many you sensed were there more for the theatre, the occasion, with attention divided between the game and the social opportunity.

Last night, the sea of yellow were there for the football, immersed in the drama, knowingly cheering on their beloved team, proud they represent the region.

This community has come a long way in a short space of time, and after last night, you suspect it might multiple in about nine months time.