Central Coast Mariners showed no mercy to Brisbane Roar at Industree Group Stadium, sending the visiting team home with a 4-1 loss.
While the Roar were the first side to launch the ball at the net in the sixth minute, the Mariners quickly regained control of the game and dominated the first half.
Marco Tulio opened the scoring for the Central Coast in the 15th minute, meeting the rebound from a Jason Cummings strike that keeper Jordan Holmes had palmed away and nailing it into the corner of the net.
The Mariners continued to challenge Holmes, with Josh Nisbet scoring a second goal just minutes later after catching the rebound from his first blocked shot.
Four minutes, TWO GOALS! ⚽️ ⚡️
What a start for @CCMariners 🔥
Marco Túlio & Josh Nisbet strike to put the hosts in control early 💪
Tune in on @ParamountPlusAU 📺
Follow live: https://t.co/JYer7PbLV7#CCMvBRI #WeAreALeagues @IsuzuUTE pic.twitter.com/rt6TwheXSd
— Isuzu UTE A-League (@aleaguemen) April 1, 2023
The third goal came in the 30th minute when Max Balard launched a header that hit the crossbar and bounced off of Holmes’ back into the goal.
The second half was not much better for Brisbane with Jason Cummings converting a penalty kick into a fourth goal in the 58th minute after Jordan Courtney-Perkins committed a handball.
The Roar had a brief taste of redemption when James O’Shea scored from a penalty kick after Brian Kaltak copped a yellow for a handball.
But despite their best efforts to catch up with the Mariners, Brisbane’s attempts to score were denied again and again until the final whistle.
Roar’s new coach, Nick Green, was disappointed with the results.
“The first half today wasn’t good enough. The goals that we let in were really soft and poor,” said Green.
“They got into our box far too easily.”
The defeat comes after a promising 1-0 victory against Western United two weeks ago, which had made it seem that Brisbane were finally finding their feet under Green’s leadership.
Jez Lofthouse and Noah Smith who both played key roles in the offensive efforts of that match, were missing in the clash against the Mariners due to illness and injury.
“Jezzie has been ill all week. Really disappointing. Jez has been flying for us,” remarked Green.
“And then young Noah Smith pulled up out of the prep session yesterday.”
While the absence of the two players may have dulled the claws of the Lions, the Brisbane coach recognises that improvement for the next match needs to happen on the training field.
“We’ve got to train and look at the learning opportunities from today,” Green reflected.
“We’ll move forward, we’ll prepare [and] we’ll work on what we need to do to win the game next week.”
The Englishman has been coaching the team for just over a month now and while turning the season around for the Roar is proving to be a challenge, Green remains optimistic.
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve won 2 in 5 [matches compared to] 3 in 17 before that,” the coach said.
“It’s not an overnight fix, but we’re working hard to put things right.”
Roar supporters will have to tune into next Saturday’s match against Newcastle Jets to see if the team can earn their redemption.
Feature Image Credit: Brisbane Roar FC
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