THE Western NSW Mariners came within 10 minutes of producing one of the biggest surprises in the National Premier Leagues 3 competition on Saturday when doing battle with St George City FA.
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With 10 minutes left in their match at Orange’s Jack Brabham Park, a Mariners side which sits 13th in the 14-team league was on level terms with the competition leaders and looking the more likely to score a winner.
In the end it was St George who took the points when putting the ball away in a goal mouth scramble following a corner kick to win 2-1.
To come so close to a result against a side which beat them 9-2 three months ago and boasts the best attacking record in the league was both a morale booster for the Mariners and something which stung when the final whistle was blown.
“It was fantastic to get a result like that against St George,” Mariners skipper Nikki Spice said.
“It hurt a lot but. Against a quality team and worse case scenario we thought we were going to come away with a draw, but they just snagged one at the end of the game unfortunately.
“There was under 10 minutes to go and they pinched one from a corner – that really, really hurt. Tap in near post.
“I thought we were dominating the game.”
St George opened scoring early in the contest, but rather than letting that sap their drive as has been the case in other games this season, the Mariners stuck to their game plan.
Duncan Logan put them back on level terms at 1-all before half-time when he tapped in from a corner kick play.
Whereas Spice admitted the Saints “tore us apart out wide” in their first meeting of 2018, the Mariners dominated the flanks this time thanks to Paul Long and Jackson Fuda.
Not only did that restrict the Saints’ chances in attack, it helped to see the Mariners enjoy good attacking possession. They were not quite able to capitalise on that, but it gives the Western side hope it can climb the ladder as their season draws to a close.
“Ryan Campbell, the youngest player on the park, was absolutely dominating up front. I thought we were sure to get away with a win, but it didn’t pan out that way,” Spice said.
“Coming into form late in the season, we are starting to feel like we can snag a few wins and climb up the ladder and get away from the bottom three. That’s our plan for the rest of the season and if we stick to the form we are playing now, I think we can do it.”