Alen in top start as Coast holds on
CENTRAL Coast has made a stunning start to life under former Matildas boss Alen Stajcic, shocking Newcastle 3-2 in a stoppage-time thriller at McDonald Jones Stadium.
The Jets fought back from 3-0 down to have a chance to equalise in injury time yesterday when Jonathan Aspropotamitis was deemed to have fouled Roy O’Donovan, whose penalty shot was then saved by Ben Kennedy. Daniel Georgievski scored off the rebound to spark celebrations but VAR then ruled he had encroached into the area early.
O’Donovan was given another chance from the spot and Kennedy again made the stop.
It was a dramatic end to an amazing comeback from lastplaced Central Coast.
It took the Mariners until the 49th minute to have their first shot but they took a shock lead two minutes later through Jordan Murray.
The Mariners doubled the lead in the 64th minute when Matt Millar burst into the Jets’ penalty area and produced a cut-back that deflected to Jem Karacan, whose shot went through the hands of Glen Moss.
Connor Pain kick-started Mariners celebrations in the 67th minute with a wellplaced left-foot strike.
But Newcastle was far from done. It pulled one back in the 74th minute when O’Donovan got a lunging foot to Lachlan Jackson’s cross.
The Jets were then within sight in the 81st minute when Kennedy failed to handle a shot from Nigel Boogaard. His spill rebounded off Ronny Vargas and into goal for 3-2.