Mariners lose easy match at home
It’s never a guarantee that A-League sides should go far in the AFC Champions League (rebranded as the AFC Champions League Elite this season), but they should be beating teams from the Thai League 1.
Central Coast had never lost to a club based in Southeast Asia before this match and were considered favourites by almost all betting sites in Australia.
Soccer betting markets outside of Australia were less kind to the Mariners though. The consensus odds actually had Central Coast as slight underdogs.
With all due respect to the betting sites’ odds, this is a match the Mariners should be winning. The club are reigning A-League Premiers and league champions. Instead of living up to their status as the kings of Australia, the Mariners let Buriram United dominate them.
The ‘Thunder Castle’ scored just 30 minutes into the match, then doubled their lead at the 50-minute mark. Just seven minutes later, Central Coast goalkeeper Adam Pavlesic was sent off, bringing the Aussies down to 10 men. The Mariners scored a consolation goal in the 95th minute.
The match finished 2-1. Buriram United out possessed and out shot Central Coast. The Mariners only had one shot on target in the match.
Head coach disappointed
Following the loss to Buriram United, Central Coast Mariners boss Mark Jackson admitted to the press that he was not happy with the result and where his club are in the AFC Champions League Elite table right now.
“We have to improve quickly,” Jackson said, “If we want to be successful this season, we need to learn and adapt fast.”
The Mariners head coach continued: “The performance went wrong with the goals we conceded, especially the first one. It was really poor.
“I’m very disappointed with how we defended and applied our principles of play in those moments.”
When asked about the incident that led to Pavlesic being sent off for a foul outside the box on Buriram’s Guilherme Bissoli, Jackson again blamed his side for the mistake.
“We put ourselves in a situation where the goalkeeper had to come out and make a decision,” he said, “That shouldn’t have happened. We were in comfortable possession but gave it away cheaply.”
The Mariners’ next match is against the Melbourne Victory in the A-League on 18 October. After that, Central Coast will face off against Chinese Super League giants Shanghai Port. Given what we’ve seen so far, these will be tough matches for the Mariners.
