Western United rose temporarily to second place on the Isuzu UTE A-League Men ladder on the back of a 3-1 win over Central Coast Mariners, the side’s first ever triumph in Gosford.
The visitors had to battle all night, eventually taking the lead just after half-time thanks to yet another Noah Botic strike – a league-best 10th of the season.
Central Coast pushed and when Tomoki Imai scored an unfortunate own goal with just under 15 minutes to go, United needed everyone to dig in and find the three points.
Substitutes took over as Luke Vickery scored his first ever professional goal before Michael Ruhs sealed it with the final play of an eventful night.
Western United will now look ahead to a return home to Ironbark Fields next week, taking on Wellington Phoenix on Saturday 8 March.
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John Aloisi was forced into one change at the back with captain Ben Garuccio missing out due to a calf injury.
Charbel Shamoon’s return from an injury of his own was a timely one as he slotted in at left-back, while the rest of the squad was as it was for last week’s win over Adelaide United.
First half
Notoriously fast starters this season, Western United continued that trend by looking to get forward right from the first whistle.
A sharp, decisive start saw the ball in United’s attacking third for much of the opening exchanges, though the visitors couldn’t create a meaningful shot on goal.
The pace of the game eventually dropped and the Mariners began to settle into better spells of possession, patiently keeping the ball and looking to open gaps in United’s defence.
Abel Walatee helped create the biggest chance of the first period with a delightful first touch before cutting the ball back to Botic, but the recovering Mariners defence was able to smuggle the ball away on the goal line.
That would be Walatee’s last involvement in the game as he succumbed to an injury, making way for Riku Danzaki.
Muggy conditions and an unfavourable pitch surface made it difficult for either side to produce any real quality going forward, though there were flashes for both sides to take confidence into the second half.
Second half
Western had the greater attacking impetus in the first 45 minutes and sought to ensure that remained true after the interval with Danzaki firing just wide after a lovely team move from back to front.
Danzaki turned provider little over a minute later after another sumptuous bit of play, a sweeping build-up typical of Western’s season.
Matthew Grimaldi, who was excellent all night, moved inside and threaded an exquisite ball in the path of Danzaki’s run, inviting the Japanese to square it up for Botic to tap home.
That goal sparked the Mariners into life with the home side going on to control the bulk of the next 20 minutes.
After half chances fell to substitutes Abdelelah Faisal and Nico Duarte, the Mariners managed to find their equaliser via the boot of Imai who could only turn Lucas Mauragis’ cross into his own net.
It looked as though the Mariners might have the legs to run out the game the stronger of the two sides, but a triple substitution immediately after the equaliser proved a stroke of genius from Aloisi.
Just five minutes after being pegged back, United wrestled back the lead thanks to some more fantastic work by Danzaki who pinched the ball high up the pitch.
Ruhs took over from there, driving into the box and finding Vickery at the back post who composed himself to finish first time into an empty net with Ramy Najjarine making an excellent supporting run in front of him.
Jordan Lauton drew a save from the top shelf out of Dylan Peraic-Cullen soon after but Central Coast showed their desperation at the other end with Matt Sutton needing to make an even better save to maintain the lead, racing off his line and sprawling to deny Bailey Brandtman.
Western poured everything into defending the box in the dying minutes before breaking forward one last time, and Ruhs was on hand to slam the ball home via the crossbar to complete the win with the final kick of the game.
