Garang Kuol enjoyed a winning A-League Men farewell thanks to a Jason Cummings’ brace that saw Central Coast Mariners beat Melbourne Victory 2-1 on Saturday.
Kuol, who’s heading to English Premier League club Newcastle United, received a standing ovation from the crowd of 10,372 in Gosford after playing almost 78 minutes in his third A-League Men start.
Having ended his Central Coast Mariners stint in winning style, the teenage sensation is “excited to learn more” when he joins Premier League club Newcastle.
A little Kuol magic is sure to be left behind by the 18-year-old. Koul was involved in Cummings’ first goal and made some trademark surging runs in an entertaining New Year’s Eve clash as the Mariners logged a third straight home win.
“The win is a good send-off for Garang. We’ll miss him, the boys will miss him, and the A-League will miss him,” coach Nick Montgomery said.
“Unfortunately, he didn’t get his penalty to sign off with because of another VAR decision that’s gone against us.”
Despite of VAR controversial, Cummings scored the winner in the 53rd minute with a close-range header after Brian Kaltak nodded a far post corner into his path.
Montgomery revealed Cummings was one of his players who could have been in better shape after they played in excessive heat in Melbourne last Monday.
“We played in tough conditions a few days ago. A few boys suffered from heat stroke, and I didn’t think they would play tonight, and one of them was Jason,” Montgomery said.
“He pops up with two goals today, so that’s the character of him and the team’s character.”
On the other hand, despite losing against the Mariners and being placed 10th on the ladder, Victory coach Tony Popovic remained optimistic about his team.
“Tough game. It’s always a tough game here,” Popovic said
“It’s a game where we really didn’t take our opportunities when they came. We had a lot of good moments, key moments where we didn’t score when we had chances, especially in the first 10 minutes.”
Feature Image Credit: Central Coast Mariners
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