Western Sydney Wanderers have gone down 3-2 after 120 minutes in a hard-fought pre-season friendly against the Central Coast Mariners.
Goals from Nicolai Muller and trialist Nectarios Triantis weren’t enough for the Wanderers who conceded the result late in the additional 30 minutes of play.
The Wanderers fielded a very similar line-up to last week’s pre-season friendly against Macarthur Rams with a mix of youth and experience lining up against the Mariners.
After a very physical start in the heat, the visitors opened up the scoring after a free kick was not cleared and swooped upon by Naul Bonada who converted before the break.
Early into the second half, the Mariners doubled their lead with Gianni Stensess’ header firing past young goalkeeper Oliver Kalac.
At the other end Muller was the first to react for the Wanderers, weaving his way past the Mariners defence to pull one back.
Head coach Carl Robinson then made his first changes to the squad bringing in senior players Simon Cox and Bruce Kamau into the action.
Defender Tate Russell continued to create some solid chances for the Red & Black, the most notable being a cross into the box which was unfortunately not met.
Substitute Triantis was next to get his name on the scoresheet for the Wanderers after a quality corner kick found the defender who headed home to equalise.
More chances from substitutes Grozos and Aquilina followed but none were able to break the deadlock and after the full 90 minutes the match ended 2-2.
The additional 30 minute period saw senior players Cox and Kamau stay on while the remainder of the bench was brought on.
Cox got the closest to putting the Wanderers in front after his header skimmed over the crossbar but frustratingly for the Red & Black a long-range effort from the Mariners’ McCarthy saw them wrap up the match 3-2 after this extra period.
Starting XI: Oliver KALAC (GK), Dylan MCGOWAN, Tass MOURDOUKOUTAS, Patrick ZIEGLER, Thomas AQUILINA, Tate RUSSELL, Jordan O’DOHERTY, Mo AL-TAAY, Keanu BACCUS, Nicolai MULLER and Ali AUGLAH
Substitutes: Dean PELEKANOS, Bruce KAMAU, Alex BADOLATO, Simon COX, Kosta GROZOS, Lochlan CONSTABLE, Noah PAGDEN, Jarrod CARLUCCIO, Isaac HOVAR, Johnathan MARAS, Alessandro LOPANE, Nectarios TRIANTIS and Jack WARSHAWSKY (GK)
