Mariners secure hard fought point against Manly

Central Coast Mariners and Manly United played out an exciting 1-1 draw on Thursday night at Cromer Park in a Round 16 catch-up fixture. 

In a thrilling first half, Lucas Meek opened the scoring for Manly with 33 minutes played before Mohamed Elhelou quickly equalised for Central Coast.

While there were no further goals in the second half, there were several opportunities for either team to take all three points, but they were forced to settled for a draw.

Manly held most of the territory in the opening five minutes, pressing high and keeping possession consistently.

The Mariners started to assert some control after this early pressure and conjured up a chance 11 minutes in. Jai Rose took on a curling shot from the left of the box that Manly goalkeeper Levi Kaye had to claw away.

Eight minutes later, United thought they were ahead when Meek bundled the ball over the line following a right-sided cross, but he was flagged offside.

Just before the half-hour mark, Central Coast produced another opportunity. Early substitute Elhelou shifted inside the right and rolled an effort narrowly wide of the near post.

The pace of the match stepped up a notch after this latest chance, with plenty of end-to-end football.

United went up the other end swiftly through Meek, who blasted the ball at Wade, the goalkeeper doing well to hold on.

Wade then produced an outstanding double save to keep the scores level. An intricate passage of play saw McCarthy’s low shot saved, before Meek crashed the ball into the post. Darcy Burgess aimed at a tight angle, but the goalkeeper blocked behind for a corner.

Manly took the lead from the resulting corner in the 33rd minute as Meek flicked the ball on at the near post, seeing it loop into the far corner.

The Mariners wasted no time dragging themselves back into the game. Rose clipped a delicate ball into the box from the right for Elhelou, who prodded it past Kaye.

Elhelou almost had his brace less than a minute after his first, picking out the left side of the goal, yet the flag was raised for offside.

There was another scramble in the Central Coast box 41 minutes in. Harry van der Saag’s left-sided cross found Jesse Piriz at the far post, forcing Wade into a spectacular reaction stop. Rocco Smith blocked Burgess’ header on the follow-up on the line before van der Saag shot just wide of the left post.

A chaotic first half concluded with the teams locked level at 1-1 following a quickfire goal either way.

The second half got off to a quieter start with limited shots from both teams.

United had the first opportunity of the second period, five minutes in, when Burgess lined up a low strike from range that Wade got down well to.

The next chance fell the Mariners’ way in the 70th minute as Rose drove into the right of the box, firing goalwards with Kaye able to catch the ball.

Manly stepped up their pursuit of a go-ahead goal a few minutes later within a flurry of shots, including a van der Saag volley that flew wide.

In the 77th minute, Central Coast substitute Jesse Mantell unleashed a sharp half-volley from the edge of the area that Kaye stretched out to save.

As the game moved towards full time, tempers began to fray as it looked like the teams would have to settle for a point.

The Mariners survived another scramble late in stoppage time but could have snatched the points in the dying embers. Kaye produced a remarkable close-range stop from Rose’s volley to preserve a point for Manly.

In a thrilling match, the points were shared following a 1-1 draw.

Match Stats

Central Coast Mariners FC 1 (Mohamed Elhelou 35’)

Manly United FC 1 (Lucas Meek 33’)

Thursday 12 June 2025

Cromer Park, Cromer

Central Coast Mariners FC: 40. Joel Wade, 2. Luca Pecora, 3. Michael Paragalli, 4. Rocco Smith, 5. Ben Mewett, 10. Ayouk Mow (22. Shumba Mutokoyi 90+2’), 11. Jai Rose, 21. Muginga Mpota (17. Jesse Mantell 54’), 23. Laurence Taylor (6. Jordan Small 46’), 24. Kye Schumacher, 39. Harper Ryles (9. Ahmad Elhelou 13’) (38. Harrison Jablonski 90+2’)

Substitutes Not Used: 30. Jared Williams

Yellow Cards: Laurence Taylor 31’, Jesse Mantell 90+4’

Red Cards: Nil

Manly United FC: 1. Levi Kaye, 2. Aaron O’Driscoll, 3. Matthew O’Donoghue, 4. Jesse Piriz, 8. Stefano Rossello (17. Farah Koko 72’), 10. Harry McCarthy, 11. Lucas Meek (9. Benjamin Koop 66’), 19. Alen Aganovic, 23. Darcy Burgess (7. Peter Kekeris 66’), 26. Harry van der Saag, 28. Jasper Chipman

Substitutes Not Used: 6. Bilal Belkadi, 12. Rocco Pelle, 21. Anthony Carreras

Yellow Cards: Jesse Piriz 81’, Peter Kekeris 88’, Harry McCarthy 90’

Red Cards: Nil

Player Ratings: 

3 – Joel Wade (CCM)

2 – Levi Kaye (MU)

1 – Jai Rose (CCM)

Report by Tim Gibson