The Mariner's Men went into Friday night's clash against Western United having never been beaten by the visiting side in Gosford. This record was to remain intact with a solid 4-0 win.
Manager Mark Jackson made two changes bringing Jing Reec and Miguel Di Pizio to his starting lineup, relegating Will Wilson and Alou Kuol to the bench. These changes had a positive effect early with both Jing and Miguel having earlier involvement in the game.
It did not take long for our men to take the lead when in the 11th minute we were awarded a corner after Torres pressured the visitors defence. The corner was taken well by Marco Túlio and found Dan Hall in a pack of players at the top of the 6 yard box. Hall placed a powerful header that United's goalkeeper had no chance of saving.
By the middle of the first half the Mariners had their second in the 25th minute with a goal that had a lot of resemblence to the first goal. The only differences were that the corner was taken by Torres and the goalscorer was Brian Kaltak with a looping header into the top left corner of the goal. Replays indicate that the ball made contact with the back of Brian's head.
The game seemed to be headed for the Mariners to go into the sheds with a two goal advantage. That was not to be. A long ball by Dan Hall out of defence resulted in Jing Reec knocking the ball forward with a glancing header. Torres ran on the pass, advancing it to the top of the box where he laid it out to the left for Túlio who took one touch before shooting. The ball glanced off the crossbar, onto the right-hand upright and went in for the Mariners third for the night in the 44th minute.
The score was 3-0 to the Mariners.
Western United made three substitutions at half-time in an effort to get back into the game where they had some chances along with the Mariners.
However the Mariners were to go further into the lead with a fourth goal that came in the 82nd minute, again from another corner taken by Marco Túlio. The corner found Dan Hall who made an attempt towards goal but the United goalkeeper pushed the ball out wide, directly to Jacob Farell. Jacob took a rocket of a shot that hit the crossbar, deflected off Kaltak towards goal before Alou Kuol made contact to make sure that the ball went in from inches out.
The Mariners Men next game is an away game at AAMI Park against Melbourne City on Sunday, 17th December with kick-off at 5:00pm.