SAME old story.
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The heartbreak continued for the Western NSW Mariners FC men’s National Premier League 3 side on Saturday night as they a suffered a 4-3 loss to Rydalmere in stoppage time.
Winless after three rounds going into the game at Mudgee’s Glen Willow Stadium, the Mariners looked certain to take a point at the very least, and perhaps all three of them when they led 2-0 early in the second half.
Even after undefeated Rydalmere had pulled it back to 2-all, a Matt Hobby goal gave the Western team the momentum once more and as full-time drew closer, they must have thought their 2016 drought would break.
The Sydney team had other ideas, levelling with only moments of normal time remaining, and making a break to score the match-winner seconds before the full-time whistle.
Mariners captain Adam Scimone was disconsolate afterwards.
“I just don’t know what to say,” he lamented, doubtless still haunted by an identical scoreline a week earlier against Sydney Uni.
“They mowed us down. We led 1-0 at half-time; we had a handful of chances and then scored again early in the second. We were all over them and they were at sixes and sevens at the back of the field.
“We had a penalty from the spot as well, although their ’keeper saved it. We made a few subs, Rydalmere pulled back to 2-1 with about 20 to go and even after they had a player red-carded they just came at us harder and harder.”
The visitors levelled in the 70th minute before Hobby put his team back in the lead, but it didn’t matter.
Almost like it was predetermined, Rydalmere had the answers when it mattered, and kept their unblemished record intact for the season.
Earlier, Mitch Hutchings had opened the scoring for Western with his first half effort before Jeremy Judge doubled their lead after the break.
As has been the case all season, goalkeeper Adam Brakenridge had his fair share of shots to stop. For all their quality in attack, Scimone said it was Brakenridge in goal who was keeping them in the game.
While clearly heartbreaking in terms of the result, the fact remains that in consecutive weeks the Mariners have shown that their attack is as good as virtually any side in the competition.
Their inability to shut down opposition forward forays, however, is forcing them to stay at the bottom of the table.
“I was speaking to their coach after the game and he was talking about how no-one has been able to score against them yet, and we’ve come out and put three on them. That says something about our attack,” Scimone said.
“For a long time we were playing the ball out from the back perfectly, we were playing really decent footy, but they just kept coming at us, kept pressing and showed a sort of desperation that we need to adopt ourselves. They were like a pitbull terrier.
“What the solution is, I don’t know. ‘Brako’ [Brakenridge] saved our arses a lot in the first half. He kept stopping their shots and
they grew more and more frustrated. Unfortunately, we didn’t take advantage of his good work.”
RYDALMERE 4 defeated WESTERN NSW MARINERS FC 3 (Mitch Hutchings, Jeremy Judge, Matt Hobby)