BRAD Porter gestured frantically towards his crotch but the ref was having none of it. As far as Ben Williams was concerned, the hand rather than any other body part had made ball contact and Perth were given an undeserved chance to equalise.
Vukes made a brilliant save with his legs but Sterjovski flicked it back in and my heart sank. I had one of those 'why does this always happen to us' moments and prepared myself for another frustrating draw. After all the good work we'd done it seemed we had just watched two points slip away.
But the Mariners kept their heads up and kept up the pressure. A few moments later Velaphi made a terrible gaffe, Macca pounced and unselfishly passed to Simon who won back the lead. I'm somewhat ashamed to admit I watched that moment at least a dozen times over the weekend. The cruel fact is that one team's heartbreaking error can be another team's moment of joy.
Velaphi is a fine keeper and I felt really sorry for him. I have a soft spot for Glory and their supporters : who amongst us was not awestruck by those purple fanatics who put on such an amazing display in NSL days ?
But I believe we deserved the win. Even Harps and Cockerill seemed to agree that the Mariners really found their form last Friday night in icy cold Canberra. Travis and McGlinchey continue to impress and Bojic had an outstanding game. And the Boogs and Wilko partnership is stronger than it has ever been.
And speaking of Wilko, who in yellow did not shed a tear when our captain scored his long-awaited first goal ? Although I watched the match from my couch, seeing the radiant smile on his face was almost as good as being there. It seemed just reward for all the angst he had to go through during the ACL, including some deeply unpleasant personal attacks from fans.
Although he lacks the maturity of other A-League captains, Wilko's leadership capacity and his tenacity are already shining brightly this season. Or as Harps put it when Wilko tried another ambitious shot on goal : "he thinks - I've just slipped one in through a couple of sets of legs, why not try a Buddy Holly from the 35 ?"
(Does anyone have the remotest idea what Harps is on about ?? Perhaps there's a whole lexicon of football/rock'n'roll metaphors only Harps understands, such as, "Brosque just executed a spectacular Jimi Hendrix in off the crossbar" or "Smeltz slid a lovely John Lennon right under the keeper's feet." )
Like many other CCM fans, work commitments prevented me from travelling to Canberra on Friday and most of the 5,000 or so crowd looked like neutrals. Compared with 6,800 for SFC v GCU, it was a reasonable crowd, but hardly the numbers to inspire confidence for the capital's A-League bid. (Although I understand the match was not effectively promoted in Canberra - which is baffling.)
Hopefully, the Mariners will draw more travelling fans next time they play in Canberra in October as that match is on a Saturday, although the whole question of these 'home away from home' games is still rather strange.
The official line from the club is that the pitch at Bluetongue needs rejuvenating, but I'm not entirely sure we're getting the whole story. Call me paranoid, but I wonder if the FFA has given the club some incentive to play two matches in Canberra as a way of promoting the game?
You might be surprised to learn that I know nothing about ground-keeping, however, I can't help but notice that nothing appears to be happening at Bluetongue lately. No sprinklers, chemicals or big signs saying "Closed Until Christmas".
As I have said before, the A-League fixtures for the Mariners this season are very irregular and somewhat disappointing. Between Rounds 4 and 15 we have only two home games. Yes - that's TWO in 3 months. I'm already feeling the pain.
As the only fans who are not getting any extra home games this season, I think we deserve a bit more information. If we have to spend so many weeks without our team, the least we can expect is a decent explanation.
Otherwise we might be tempted to defect up the F3 to watch Hoffman get a beautiful "Eric Clapton" around two defenders.
