Football
Anna Harrington 4y

City beat Mariners, extend A-League lead

Melbourne City have continued their stellar start to the season, seeing off a determined Central Coast 3-1 at AAMI Park.

Curtis Good, Adrian Luna and Rostyn Griffiths netted for the home side, while Jordan Murray struck a late consolation on Friday night for the Mariners in front of 5547 fans.

The win puts City in top spot by three points, with Western Sydney to play on Saturday night.

"I'm very pleased also today - we respected well the game plan, also we try every game to improve our style," City coach Erick Mombaerts said.

"Today, it was very good, we controlled the game better with our possession-based football and we created good opportunities also with this style."

City grabbed the lead through Good at a set piece in the 17th minute.

Craig Noone took a corner short to Lachlan Wales, who whipped a cross into a bundle of players, where Good shoved his way between Dylan Fox and Ziggy Gordon to power a diving header home.

On a night when City celebrated their 10th anniversary, it was only appropriate Good - who made a name for himself at (the then) Melbourne Heart before moving to England - was the man to break the deadlock.

The Mariners largely failed to make some promising work count on the scoreboard, with their best chance a Tommy Oar strike that forced an impressive save from Dean Bouzanis in the 30th minute.

Good was involved in his team's second goal, winning possession in defence and sending a searching ball in Connor Metcalfe's direction.

The young midfielder went on a powerful run down the left and whipped a scintillating cross in to Adrian Luna, who cleverly tapped home for his first City goal in the 60th minute.

City put the result out of reach in the 81st minute.

Wales completed a quick 1-2 with Noone at a free kick and delivered a cross into a clamouring group of players.

Youngster Stefan Colakovski left the ball for Harrison Delbridge, whose attempted tap-in was parried away by Mark Birighitti. Unfortunately for the Mariners' goalkeeper, the ball fell to Griffiths, who smacked it into the net to make it 3-0.

Having looked relatively toothless for most of the match, the Mariners secured a consolation goal in the 89th minute.

Kim Eun-sun headed the ball into attack, with Danny De Silva flicking it into the path of Murray. The striker finished past Bouzanis with aplomb to make it 3-1.

"I thought Melbourne City probably controlled the game a little bit better, even in the first half," Mariners coach Alen Stajcic said.

"I thought we looked dangerous, though, as well. I thought we had a couple of good half-chances there.

"Disappointing though, as usual, to concede off a corner and that gave them obviously scoreboard momentum."

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