The Roar have climbed into equal-second place on the Ninja A-League ladder with an electric 2-2 draw with the Central Coast Mariners at Spencer Park on Friday night.
Before kickoff, the teams and the home crowd of 1,899 supporters observed a moment of silence in memory of Rado Vidošić, a highly influential figure in Australian football, who sadly passed away this week.
Once the match was underway, the Roar drew first blood just nine minutes in. Dutchwoman Bente Jansen sliced through the Mariners’ defence before threading a through ball to Ashlyn Miller, who slotted the ball into the bottom-left corner.
Five minutes later, down the other end, centre-back Leia Varley made a late challenge on Annalise Rasmussen just inside the box, and the referee awarded a penalty to the Mariners. Rasmussen stepped up and fired a powerful strike into the right corner to equalise 1-1.
The next big chance came in the 26th minute when Ashlyn Miller picked out Sharn Freier with a through ball, putting her through on goal, but her powerful shot went just wide.
Across the next twenty minutes, the Roar continued to press for another goal, but the teams went into the halftime break all square.
Five minutes into the second half, Tish Woods slipped a ball through the Mariners’ backline to release Freier down the left. Freier cut it across the box, but Daisy Brown couldn’t connect.
Chances came from both sides over the next twenty minutes, but the deadlock held.
In the 75th minute, Brown received the ball in midfield and unleashed a loping long-range effort that caught Mariners’ keeper Grove off her line and bounced into the back of the net to put the Roar ahead.
The Mariners answered immediately a minute later, combining well across the pitch to put Rasmussen through, who finished neatly from close range to make it 2-2.
Over the final twenty minutes, chances came at both ends, keeping the crowd on the edge of their seats, but neither team could find a winner, and the match ended 2-2.
The Roar travel south to take on Sydney FC in their next A-League clash on Wednesday evening.
