Central Coast Mariners pile more A-League Men misery on Western Sydney Wanderers

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:01 am

Cy Goddard's first A-League Men's goal and a curling free kick from Oliver Bozanic sealed a 2-0 win for Central Coast over Western Sydney, heaping more pressure on under-fire Wanderers boss Carl Robinson.

In energy-sapping heat at Gosford Stadium on Saturday, Goddard rifled home a close-range strike to open the scoring in the 59th minute.

Wanderers substitute Dimi Petratos almost equalised as he carved a way past a Mariners defence that looked all at sea, but goalkeeper Mark Birighitti made a superb reflex save to protect his clean sheet.

Central Coast captain Bozanic found the top corner with virtually the final kick of the game, putting the icing on the cake in his 100th ALM appearance for the Mariners as they claimed back-to-back home wins over their Sydney-based rivals.

The result left the Wanderers with just one win from six matches in all competitions this season amid fevered speculation over Robinson's position as coach.

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Two drinks breaks were called in each half as the temperature in Gosford soared well above 30 degrees.

Not even the return of veteran goal-scorer Tomer Hemed from injury could spark life into Western Sydney's attack, with both sides struggling to create fluency in their build-up play.

The Mariners' opener eventually came just before the hour, after Josh Nisbett charged forward and played in Lewis Miller on the right.

The full-back's low cross took a slight deflection off a defender and fell to Goddard, who fired his shot in off the underside of the crossbar.

It led to another drinks break and prompted Robinson to make three substitutions, including Petratos, who had made way for Hemed in the Wanderers' starting line-up and almost made himself the hero.

Petratos faked out three Mariners defenders, who all went to ground trying to block shots that weren't fired, but the striker couldn't finish past Birighitti.

Miller was shown a yellow card for simulation when he went down looking for a penalty under pressure from Thomas Aquilina when the Mariners held a 1-0 advantage during the second half.