A-League grand final LIVE: Central Coast Mariners v Melbourne Victory

There’s 21,379 people in the house tonight – as mentioned earlier, that’s a new record for this venue, courtesy of those bonus seats among the palm trees. Nobody here really cares, though, because they’re feeling very, very nervous about their team.

No major on-field activity to speak of since my last update, but there have been some substitutions. Storm Roux and Bradley Tapp are off for the Mariners, and Ronald Barcellos and Harry Steele are on. That’s four out of five substitutions. They’ve got one more up their sleeve. Will these guys give them that missing dynamic tonight and keep their treble hopes alive?

Meanwhile, Victory have taken off Daniel Arzani for Ben Folami, while there’s a change in midfield too, with Zinedine Machach off and Roly Bonevacia on.

Central Coast Mariners 0-1 Melbourne Victory, 76 minutes

This has shades of the ‘Heist in the Hunter’.

Real A-League heads will know, but for the rest of you, I’m referring was the 2018 A-League grand final, when Newcastle Jets hosted Melbourne Victory – and everyone wanted the Jets to win, because they’d been terrible for a long time and nobody expected them to be as good as they were that season. It was a really nice story.

Victory, however, crashed the party, and an extremely unfortunately timed VAR malfunction meant they squeaked out a 1-0 win with a goal that should not have counted.

Victory’s goal tonight was very much legal, but there’s still the same vibe of the bad guys from south of the border coming up to regional NSW and killing the fairytale.

Central Coast Mariners 0-1 Melbourne Victory, 68 minutes

Weird vibe at Industree Group Stadium right now. Everyone’s a bit nervous, except for the four bays of Victory fans who are absolutely fired up, jumping up and down and having the time of their lives.

It’s really hard to see where the Mariners are going to get a goal from. They’ve been firing blanks all night in the final third and whatever they’re throwing at Victory’s defence is being dealt with quite easily.

Mark Jackson needs to shake things up because what they’re doing at the moment is not working.

Central Coast Mariners 0-1 Melbourne Victory, 64 minutes

A sweeping attacking move by the Mariners ends with Christian Theoharous taking a ping from a difficult angle on the left – the ball goes high and wide but that was a good moment for the hosts.

Seconds later, coach Mark Jackson makes a change, and Theoharous, who was arguably their best player in the first half, has been summoned off. Interesting move. Miguel Di Pizio comes on for him, while Victory’s Tony Popovic have also made a sub, swapping Salim Khelifi for Nishan Velupillay.

Central Coast Mariners 0-1 Melbourne Victory, 59 minutes

Wow.

What a goal.

The deadlock has just been broken by Jason Geria with just his third A-League goal, and it’s an absolute beauty – a first-time slap from the top of the box after a lay-off from Jordi Valadon. He was in acres of space, and he made it count. Incredible goal.

The Mariners have some work to do.

Central Coast Mariners 0-1 Melbourne Victory, 51 minutes

Have a look at that goal for yourselves:

We’re back, folks. Victory have just kicked us off for the second half – strap yourselves back in.

Meanwhile, the Mariners have made a change at the break. Alou Kuol has come off, presumably succumbing to that head knock (well, there were two, so head knocks), while Ryan Edmonson has come on for him and is now playing up top.

And as I’ve typed that, Victory have just had a half-chance there as Adama Traore galloped into the box. Danny Vukovic defuses the danger.

Central Coast Mariners 0-0 Melbourne Victory, 47 minutes

Here’s a look at the Kuol-Da Silva incident, by the way:

That’s it for the first half. No goals. That’s not to say there’s been no action – there’s been a fair bit of that. The two best chances fell to Victory, with Daniel Arzani’s long-distance shot the only one on target for the match, while Ryan Teague’s header close to the break probably should have been on target too.

The Mariners have struggled to fashion many clear-cut sights on goal, and indeed, the most eventful thing to happen in their attacking box was the collision between Damien Da Silva and Alou Kuol, which left the former in a bloody mess. Literally.

Stay tuned for the second half.

Victory go close again – Ryan Teague rises to meet Jason Geria’s cross from the right and gets his head on it, but pushes it wide of the target. That was a great chance.

We are a few minutes into seven minutes of stoppage time, by the way – which is to be expected given the delay after Da Silva and Kuol’s collision.

Central Coast Mariners 0-0 Melbourne Victory, 45+ minutes

There’s our first shot on target! It’s Daniel Arzani from just outside the box and he forces Danny Vukovic into a fantastic diving save to his left. That ball was moving in the air. Great shot and great save. Great stuff all round, really.

Central Coast Mariners 0-0 Melbourne Victory, 42 minutes

Christian Theoharous has just shredded Daniel Arzani with a lovely bit of dribbling as the Mariners made an incursion down the left-hand side. The crowd loved that. Unfortunately, Theoharous’ cross couldn’t find a target – Adama Traore brought it down and allowed goalkeeper Paul Izzo to clear – but more moments like that, more individual brilliance, will be needed to break the deadlock here, I reckon. Either that or a howling mistake from someone. Still no clear-cut chances for either side.

Central Coast Mariners 0-0 Melbourne Victory, 40 minutes