The Central Coast Mariners got their A-League campaign off to a flying start with an impressive 3-2 win at home as Tony Walmsley claimed his first three points as permanent head coach.
It was an open and expansive first-half at Bluetongue Stadium as both teams played their part, pushing plenty of numbers forward in what turned out to be a very entertaining opening for the neutral observer. The Mariners got the ascendancy early in the midfield, starting the more potent of the two sides and were rewarded nine minutes in.
Nick Fitzgerald found space in the right channel and with a clever reverse pass found Ferreira, whose shot could only be deflected by Ante Covic into the path of Roy O’Donovan, opening his A-League account on debut.
Kenny Lowe’s side were able to respond quickly against the run of play though, with Richard Garcia latching onto a ball at the back post with a diving header back across goals and into the bottom left corner. The Mariners would have considered themselves unlucky to go into halftime equal after creating a number of chances, however, looked vulnerable on the counter-attack themselves
It was much of the same during the second-half, as the Glory struggled to transition with the same intent as the Mariners, with early season fitness seemingly to blame. A silly challenge by offseason import Guyon Fernandez only compounded the Glory’s problems, allowing Ferreira to convert from the penalty spot in the 58th minute.
It was not long until Ferreira found himself scoring from the penalty spot again after Storm Roux drew a foul in the area only nine minutes later.
Both sides had chances late with Liam Reddy and Ante Covic both making some fine saves in the closing minutes. Gyorgy Sandor scored with a classy first touch finish with the last attack of the game to cap off what was an engaging and largely attacking game.
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