da wazamba： Melbourne Heart’s hopes of an inaugural A-League finals appearance have been all but snuffed after a 1-1 draw with Central Coast Mariners at AAMI Park.
da stake casino： The home side needed a victory on Friday, but came up with a point that sees the league’s new boys move to 34 points and one point off sixth-placed Wellington Phoenix, who has two games in hand.
It also means Brisbane Roar have won the premiers plate, with the Mariners now unable to rein in the eight-point gap that sits between them and Ange Postecoglou’s men.
On 49 minutes, a speculative Matt Thompson free-kick 15 yards inside his own half skidded off the damp turf and embarrassingly caught out teenage Mariners’ goalkeeper Matt Ryan.
Ryan scrambled back towards his own goal-line but it was in vain as he fumbled the ball under pressure.
The Mariners immediately struck back when Josh Rose played in Daniel McBreen, who tucked home the left-back’s cross at the second attempt after his initial volley was denied the first time around by Heart shot-stopper Clint Bolton.
The action-packed two minute period highlighted an engaging contest that was fortunate to even go ahead after heavy rain lashed Melbourne 45 minutes before kick-off.
Referee Strebre Delovski checked the surface on a number of occasions before actually giving the go-ahead, much to the delight of the brave 3667 crowd which braved the elements in the hope play would get underway, albeit 82 minutes late.
Central Coast almost drew first blood on six minutes when Michael McGlinchey’s 25-yard strike was spilled by Bolton.
But unlike Ryan some 43 minutes later, Bolton’s blushes were spared when he regained the ball just millimetres from the line.
Both sides were able to fashion some quality chances with the home side’s best falling to mercurial Dutchman Gerald Sibon, who forced Ryan into an acrobatic save from a free-kick, while Argentinian import Patricio Perez drew a nice Bolton stop from his own free-kick.
The home side pressed hard for a winner, with Sibon just missing the top right-hand corner from 20 yards on 72 minutes, before Ryan made amends for his howler with a top-draw save to deny Wayne Srhoj.