St George City rejoice in win over gritty Mariners
St George City responded to last weekend’s Western Sydney Wanderers humbling with a gritty 2-0 win over Central Coast Mariners at Penshurst Park on Saturday evening.
Presley Ortiz put St George in front moments before halftime and then Paolo Mitry added a second off the bench after the break.
There was an early chance for St George two minutes in when Jason Romero skipped into the left of the box but fired across the face of goal.
Two minutes later, the hosts had another opportunity. Fumoto Kamada flicked the ball up on the left edge of the box and lashed a volley goalwards, which Dylan Peraic-Cullen parried away acrobatically.
Central Coast returned fire in the 19th minute through Lucas Scicluna whose first-time strike from the right of the box was held onto by City goalkeeper Jack Kenny.
Eight minutes later, the side were centimetres away from an opener. A left-sided corner fell to Prayaag Thapa in the box, who turned well before firing a fierce shot off the crossbar.
St George re-took the momentum and went close to scoring 39 minutes in. Ortiz spun into a shooting position on the edge of the area but shot over.
Two minutes later, the forward grabbed his goal. He latched onto a ball over the top before delicately lobbing it over an onrushing Peraic-Cullen and watching it bounce into the goal.
City held onto their lead as they went into the break after a competitive first half at Penshurst Park.
Central Coast had two shots in the first four minutes of the second half. Two minutes in, substitute Adil Toska cleared the bar from range. Two minutes later, Scicluna took on a low drive that Kenny saved.
The chances kept coming, and in the 52nd minute, Mariners attacker Luka Smyth burst through the middle of the pitch, forcing Kenny to make another sharp stop.
St George went forward seconds later as Romero looked to get in behind centrally, but he clipped his effort over.
City’s Kamada escaped down the left 61 minutes in. He sent in a low delivery that was initially cut out by Peraic-Cullen but rebounded to Romero whose shot was cleared away.
The Mariners threatened from a couple of set pieces after this, but they remained behind heading into the final 25 regular minutes.
St George had a strong opportunity in the 68th minute. Romero slipped Ortiz in behind into the left channel, but Peraic-Cullen repelled the latter’s effort
St George’s positive play paid off with a second goal 76 minutes in. Romero raced down the right and into the box before finding substitute Mitry, the midfielder converted a simple tap-in.
In the 80th minute, another pinpoint pass from Tarik Ercan out of the back found Louis Khoury in the right channel, who cut inside before shooting narrowly over.
Six minutes later, the visitors nearly halved the deficit when Scicluna took aim from outside the area and rattled the crossbar.
In the final minute of regular time, Central Coast’s Ahmad Elhelou saw his deflected strike from the left of the box swerve wide.
St George saw out the remaining moments to secure a well-earned three points.
St George City coach Mirko Jurilj said despite bouncing back from last week’s performance, he still was not entirely satisfied with his team.
“Last week’s performance was utterly poor. There’s no sugarcoating that. We had to bounce back,” he said.
“In general, I thought we were the better team [tonight].
“I’m happy with the result.
“Once again, [there was] quite a lot of sloppiness in our play. We could have buried that.”
Match Stats
St George City FA 2 (Presley Ortiz 41’, Paolo Mitry 76’)
Central Coast Mariners FC 0
Saturday 20 April 2024
Penshurst Park, Penshurst
Referee: Logan Jones
Assistant Referees: Thomas Gellatly and Joshua Eiser
Fourth Offical: Ethan Zvargulis
St George City FA: 1. Jack Kenny, 2. Cameron Fong, 4. Solomon-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika, 5. Fumoto Kamada, 6. Tarik Ercan, 7. Nathan Roberts (11. Kosta Petratos 71’), 10. Jason Romero (19. Jesse Photi 90+1’), 25. Brodie Clarkson, 28. Noah Ovens, 30. Presley Ortiz (14. Paolo Mitry 71’), 33. Louis Khoury (3. Joshua Hong 90+1’)
Substitutes Not Used: 13. Joseph Knowles, 29. William Kounnas
Yellow Cards: Presley Ortiz 44’
Red Cards: Nil
Central Coast Mariners FC: 40 Dylan Peraic-Cullen, 2. Michael Paragalli, 5. Harry Menham, 8. Lucas Scicluna, 10. Luka Smyth, 11. Donatien Niyonkuru, 12. Taye Hedley (28. Ahmad Elhelou 46’), 16. Prayaag Thapa (35. Haine Eames 69’), 22. Socco Smith, 39. Adam Hall (18. Adil Toska 46’), 42. Alexander Gountounas (3. Cher Deng 79’)
Substitutes Not Used: 14. Jacob Tresoglavic, 30. Daniel Vickers
Yellow Cards: Adil Toska 88’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Jason Romero (SGC)
2 – Tarik Ercan (SGC)
1 – Lucas Scicluna (CCM)
Report by Timothy Gibson, on Twitter @Timg123_
