Saints go marching in with victory over Central Coast
St George FC have continued its great form with a well deserved 2-0 victory over the Central Coast Mariners at Barton Park on Friday.
The opening goal to Bai Antoniou, his sixth in six games, was early on and then it was followed by Jaden Casella’s strike right at the death of the first half to seal the deal for the home side against a young and courageous Central Coast Mariners side.
The first real opportunity of the game was St George FC’s opening goal in the 5th minute when the faithful in the Frank Arok Stand at Barton Park had hardly taken their seats.
It was a beautiful sweeping move down the left hand side that ended with Antoniou’s goal. The effervescent captain Troy Danaskos fed the ball to Kadyn Wright who in turn found Antoniou and the in-form scorer, with a wonderful diagonal shot, left goalkeeper Adam Pavlesic stranded.
In the 12th minute Nicholas Kalogerou made a determined run into the box beating a few adversaries, but he couldn’t put it past Pavlesic who turned it away for a corner.
A few minutes later St George FC were at it again when a Casella shot ended up just wide of the intended target as Central Coast then replied in the 22nd minute. It was Arthur De Lima who made a dashing run down the left flank but his finish didn’t really trouble goalkeeper Daniel Axford.
On the half-hour mark Muginga Mpota for the Mariners pounced on a loose ball but with Axford closing in on him, he rolled the ball across the entire face of goal. An immediate reply then came from Danaskos who fired on target but Pavlesic got down low to make another good save.
In the 42nd minute St George FC almost doubled their lead when Danaskos from the left fed a delightful ball to Casella, but somehow defender Rocco Smith and ‘keeper Pavlesic managed to get it away for a corner and deny the St George number ten.
However, St George FC didn’t have to wait too long to score again as the goal arrived on the stroke of halftime and it was indeed the number ten who found the back of the net. Antoniou with a magic assist found Casella lurking with intent and he simply tapped it home to give the home side a well-deserved 2-0 lead at the break as the experienced referee Kurt Ams brought proceedings in the entertaining half to an end.
In the second half the opening salvo belonged once again to St George FC with Justin Poon galloping into the box but not beating Pavlesic with his shot. Luca Pecora then replied for the young Mariners by firing on goal, but the ball took a slight deflection and ended up wide for a corner kick.
In the 50th minute the visitors tried their luck again when Ben Mewett provided a nice assist for De Lima who brought out the best in goalkeeper Axford with his accurate attempt on target.
Casella almost scored again in the 70th minute when he received a beautiful ball from the left from Antoniou but his great strike was met by Pavlesic who pulled off a fantastic diving save.
In the 75th minute the Mariners came close when a cross by Mewett found Finn Sadler in the middle but he poked at the shot from close range when he really should have done better to beat ‘keeper Axford.
With a few minutes left on the clock St George FC came ever so close with a double chance that was twice blocked by Pavlesic. Substitute Sunday Yona found fellow substitute Harrison Farrow but his attempt was beautifully blocked by the Mariners custodian, but only as far as Yona himself and his shot too couldn’t beat the impressive Pavlesic.
After the game Fabian Miceli the coach of St George FC was very happy with the result.
“I am very happy with the team at the moment and we are going through a good run of form,” he said. “It’s been there [the good form] all season so far and we really shouldn’t have lost our first three games, but the boys have made up for it and we are now six games undefeated. We are playing some really good football but their goalkeeper was amazing tonight and saved many of our chances.”
When pressed to single out his players he praised the whole team and then mentioned Pat O’Shea.
“We have a lot of youngsters in the team, we had three under-20 players on the bench and they all came on tonight,” he said. “We also have very good experienced players and some don’t get spoken about a lot like Pat O’Shea but he has been enormous for us in midfield.”
In the opposition dressing room Lucas Vilela, the coach of the Central Coast Mariners, was also full of praise for his young side.
“We knew it would be tough tonight because St George are a good team,” he said. “We prepared for them and we tried to create opportunities. In the first half they were good tactically and then we adjusted in the second half and we did much better.
“I told the boys at halftime they we needed to take more risks because if you lose by two or five doesn’t really matter when you are down by two.
“They dominated in parts with possession but it was a fairly even game overall because in the first half they created three chances and scored two goals.”
When asked about his goalkeeper Adam Pavlesic he said the following: “Yes, he was unbelievable tonight and I knew that he wouldn’t let us down.”
Match Stats
St GEORGE FC: 2 (Antoniou 5’, Casella 45’)
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS: 0
Friday 4th April 2025
Barton Park, Kyeemagh
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant referees: Amber Morris, Simon Ashari
Fourth Official: Ethan Zvargulis
St GEORGE FC: 20. Daniel Axford, 3. Troy Danaskos, 4. Mark Rodic, 5. Nicholas Kalogerou, 6. Pat O’Shea, 8. Evangelo Souris (35. Harrison Farrow 85’), 10. Jaden Casella, 14. Justin Poon (12. Thomas Dunn 70’), 15. Bai Antoniou (40. Hassan Kamberovic 85’), 16. Kadyn Wright (13. Sunday Yona 61’), 27. Jayden Seeto.
Substitutes not used: 1. Jonte Stark-Harris, 34. Kota Toyooka.
Yellow Cards: O’Shea 58’, Rodic 59’. Kalogerou 59’
Red Cards: Nil
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS: 1. Adam Pavlesic, 2. Luca Pecora, 3. Michael Paragalli, 4. Rocco Smith, 5. Ben Mewett, 7. Ayouk Mow, 10. Arthur De Lima (31. Finn Sadler 61’), 11. Jai Rose (17. Jesse Mantell 61’), 21. Muginga Mpota (15. Freddie Clunas 81’), 23. Laurence Taylor (22. Shumba Mutokoyi 81’), 24. Kye Schumacher.
Substitutes not used: 14. Angus Reid, 20. Joel Wade.
Yellow Cards: Mow 23’, Clunas 89’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Bai Antoniou (StG)
2 – Pat O’Shea (StG)
1 – Adam Pavlesic (CCM)
By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo
