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Sydney's finals spot under threat

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By John Taylor

December 13, 2008 12:00am

CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 2 SYDNEY FC 1

FORMER Socceroos striker John Aloisi couldn't understand how Sydney FC were denied a legitimate penalty in a controversial loss to the Central Coast Mariners.

In another game of high drama between these two fierce rivals, the Mariners won thanks to a last-minute penalty by Mile Jedinak after striker Dylan Macallister was brought down by Iain Fyfe.

Aloisi looked like he had secured a point for Sydney with his 64th-minute penalty. His first shot was saved by Mariners keeper Danny Vukovic, who had barrelled into Aloisi in the first place.

Referee Peter Green ordered a second kick as he spotted Pedj Bojic move inside the area too early.

"The goal didn't mean much tonight because we didn't get anything out of the game,'' Aloisi said.

"Hopefully I can start scoring goals on a regular basis now. It would have been nice if I had the second penalty. I was already thinking about where I was going to put it.''

The crucial incident came in the 69th minute, when Mariners substitute Dean Heffernan brought down Shannon Cole and Green pointed to the spot.

However, the assistant referee's flag was raised for offside.

"When Shannon went down I didn't expect that he was offside,'' Aloisi said.

Coach John Kosmina agreed, despite admitting Sydney "weren't the greatest'' in the first half.

"We had a legitimate penalty disallowed. I am not sure about Fyfe (foul on Macallister).

"From what everyone tells me, it probably was a penalty. It's just one of those things. It's the second time this season we've copped a penalty in the last minute to kill us off after fighting our way back in.''

Kosmina didn't need any reminding that the Mariners never give up.

"It is hard to defend against them,'' he said.

"We are relatively inexperienced with the likes of Shannon (Cole) and Beau (Busch) defensively.

So from that point of view I was happy with the performance.

"You have to show character when things aren't going for you and we did that.''

The Mariners had the ascendancy in the first half through their midfielders, especially as Kosmina played with three strikers.

Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna felt Sydney never looked like getting into the game until Aloisi's penalty.

"I thought we dominated in the first half and deserved to be up more than one goal. I thought at halftime it could come back and bite us,'' McKinna said.

"Credit to Sydney. I thought they put us under a bit of pressure in the second half, but we defended reasonably well and they got the penalty and Danny saves it.

"When the keeper saves it you are over the moon, then it is re-taken. Credit to John Aloisi, he handled it very well and sent Danny the wrong way.

"We never gave up. We felt just before we got the penalty to run hard at them and drive at their defence because we have big, strong boys up front.

"Fortunately Dylan was able to drive through and get that penalty.

"I thought Mile's effort was going over the bar, but we deserved it. It wouldn't have been a good feeling coming off with a draw.''

Fulltime
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 2 (Dylan Macallister 11m, Mile Jedinak 90+1m pen) bt SYDNEY FC 1 (John Aloisi 65m pen) at Bluetongue Stadium. Crowd: 11,220. Referee: Peter Green.

Party ruined ... John Aloisi's equalising goal wasn't enough to prevent Sydney FC going down to the Central Coast Mariners. Photograph: Mark Evans

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Have Your Say

Latest Comments:

The Mariners and McKinna is are all class - they don't blow their own trumpet, but go about the task clinically, plus they NEVER give up. Sydney FC could learn a thing or two from them.
Posted by: Mariner faithful of Central Coast 5:42pm today

Misleading?? "Legitimate Penalty?" Come on... The Laws Of The Game state that the Referee must penalise the offence which occurs first, which in this case was the offside. The foul by Heffernan warranted a penalty, had the Sydney player not already comitted an offside offence (he still should have been carded)... Mervyn Alexander of Penrith... Sydney took some of the worst dives possible so I don't think you have room to criticise... All in all it was a very good performance from the Men in Black.
Posted by: LocalRef of 5:35pm today

Hey Merv it's a wonder you could see anything wuth all the capsicum spray flying about in your bay. At one stage even the SFC players tried to settle the supporters down!
Posted by: third on the table of not sydney 4:20pm today

dylan mccalister a cheat with a dive that i saw it was right in front of the sydney fc travelling supports that i was with its an absolute disgrace crap referee , it just shows that central coast have to cheat to win the match its a disgrace
Posted by: mervyn alexander of penrith 2:56pm today

This game was the first I saw a ref guarded by security and police at half and full time. As mostly families sit in the tunnel area I wonder what the threat was. Once again the officials had a woeful game, can we have marquee (?) officials?
Posted by: coastie of central coast 2:42pm today

YOUR A GOOSE JOHNNY!!!!! DEADSET!!!!
Posted by: C of X 2:33pm today

A message to Aloisi - You can get paid all the money in the world but you'll still never have any dignity. Your celebration tonight was disgraceful, especially considering you had already missed the penalty. I noticed you didnt walk in front of the Mariners fans after the match. Once a dog always a dog.
Posted by: Wil of CC 12:51am today

That's what you get for being a turncoat, Aloisi stay with those losers SFC, we on the Central Coast are glad to see your sorry ass out of the Mariners!
Posted by: Garth of Gosford 11:38pm December 13, 2008

Boy Oh Boy, were the Mariners lucky tonight.I couldn't believe what McKinna was saying about their performance. Their defence wasn't all that flash.How, Sydney FC, didn't equalise was beyond me. No I think the Mariners, should punt both McKinna and Vucovic, for next season. There's plenty of more BORING draws in this mob. I guess, Frank Lowy, was shouting Singo beers.
Posted by: Fed up with McKinna of Wyong 10:53pm December 13, 2008

The Central Coast Mariners played a terrific first half not so in the second half. Danny Vukovic gave away a silly penalty but made good by saveing first ever penalty against John Aloisi. if it wasn't for Pedj Bojic encroached into the box it would have been a great save. the head line would have been Vukovic goes from villan to hero. Vuko has a history of great penalty saves Archie Thompson, Dwight Yorke all in all great game.
Posted by: ELIZABETH of Melbourne 10:19pm December 13, 2008

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