Mariners coast past Heart despite Orlando magic

A 34^th minute wonder goal from Orlando Engelaar was not enough to save Melbourne Heart’s slim finals hopes, going down 2-1 to a determined Central Coast at AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon.

The hosts had the lion’s share of the shots in the first half hour, with Heart top-scorer David Williams registering three early shots, none of which troubled Mariners keeper Liam Reddy.

The small but vocal Melbourne crowd started to fade when a deflection from Massimo Murdocca found Engelaar with space in the centre circle. Seeing Reddy off his line, the Dutch midfielder fired a shot over the keeper’s head, landing in the back of the net in what must be a candidate for the goal of the year, if not the history of the A League.

Heart could have made it two nil minutes later, with Ben Garuccio feeding the ball across the face of the Mariners’ goal, but Williams once again failed to find the back of the net.

The story for the next hour was a familiar one for Melbourne Heart, failing to capitalise on a string of chances.  This was made particularly frustrating by the knowledge that Heart needed to win all of their remaining matches to be a realistic chance to make the finals.

The Mariners equalised one minute into first half injury time, when Matt Simon sent a through ball to Korean signing Kim Seung-Yong at the back post, who coolly slotted in the goal to send the sides back to the change rooms on level terms.

The sides came out of the break unchanged, and Heart continued to press from the back, trying to turn possession into goals but lacking the finishing touch in the last third.   If Central Coast were tired from their midweek trip to Beijing, they didn’t show it, continuing to punish Heart on the counter-attack.  In the 77^th minute a Liam Reddy clearance found second half substitute Bernie Ibini alone on the right flank, the resulting goal in the left corner effectively ending the Heart’s season.

Melbourne didn’t go down without a fight though, with Harry Kewell and Stefan Mauk both with chances to equalise for the home team. However Kewell’s headed shots were both directed at Liam Reddy, and Mauk’s shots were too wild to test the Mariners keeper.

Heart’s final three matches are now mainly for pride, while Central Coast may consider themselves a possibility to finish in the top two, depending on their result in the grand final rematch at Hunter Stadium on Saturday.

Melbourne Heart 1 (Engelaar 34′) – Central Coast 2 (Kim 46′, Ibini 77′) Crowd 5,418

Editors note: The match both ended the season for Heart and summed up their season of lost opportunities.  The teams continual inability to find the back of the net has finally come back to haunt them.  Well done to the Mariners, considering their midweek travel they were deserving of the three points. – Hardsy

Google+