Nah, arnies team's were built around counter attacking defensive wing, Ie bojic and rose, this is pure mckinna, you keep an to 0, you only need 1

Long way to go - but hoping for a fairy tale ending.

It's the aleague.

It is, well done, you worked it out.

Sydney without a quality striker are not putting away their chances who would of guessed that? Good on the Mariners though.

Buhagiar and Kosta are not good enough

Well done Mariners. The smurfs dominated the first half but once again, failed to finish their chances. Second half started pretty much the same way with smurfs having most of the possession and looking the most likely to score. When they did , VAR denied the celebration. Mariners at that moment were parking the bus and in their first attempt going forward, Warland scores an own goal. Smurfs got desperate. It was Caceres v the ccm. Imo, he was involved in all the Smurf’s best chances and build ups. Ninko was absent, Costa and Bahg once again didn’t show up. Again , the Mariners take advantage of  the Smurf’s bad finishing and in a counter, they score the second. After that it was all over. Well done Mariners.

Barbarous at 29 always looked like a questionable piece of recruitment by SFC, now revealed as a major mistake. 

Great to see CCM competing this season. Have told say that I can't see itself lasting. The quality just isn't there and they can't ride their luck forever. 

I was out on the turps last night, but watched the first half of   the replay and intend to finish the rest later . You were probably bang on the money about first half, MM74.

Without Le Fondre, I was really frustrated watching SFC in the ACL in November, where they dominated  play at times, but were profligate around goal. I was hoping they would enter the late rounds of the ACL and win the comp as an Aussie club.

They had a lot of chances in the  half against CCM, and played more balls into the pen box, as they expended quite a lot of energy in their intensive and well co-ordinated squeezing in the first two thirds of  the pitch. It was an impressive performance in Ball Possession Opposition, as they often forced CCM mistakes in their build ups.

At the same time, I was pleased to see CCM win the game. Bozanic has been a terrific acquisition for them. DDS was effective, but not as much as a few nights ago. Nisbet was quieter as well. Impressively, I think all CCM players last night were Aussies too.

As usual Grant played well for SFC, plus Cacares did well.

However, after the weird sacking of Stajic as Matilda coach, good to see him, and the cellar dwellers for a few seasons, CCM,  getting another favourable result.

A few things have improved for them.

*Bozanic is very much a midfield leader and has improved as a DM controlling midfielder. He seems to thrive being captain.

*Tongyik seems to have improved and is playing closer to his high level of talent, although still makes mistakes. Ditto Rowles.

*Nisbet is providing impetus as a nippy winger. 

*DDS  looks better  this season. He is unequivocally one of  the most talented and best players in the league at his best. I don't know if off- field issues have affected his performance for the last few seasons? If DDS fires he is a handful for any team.

* Was it Birighitti who made most saves last season? Is he one of the better keepers in the league? He had a good game against SFC. 

The CCM problem could be a regular long term goalscorer and goalscorers in general over the whole season.

Buhagiar is overrated in my opinion. He has pace and that's about it to be brutally honest. Kosta is great as a winger or good as a secondary striker backing up a centre forward.

They still have 3 foreigners to come in.....to fill out the forward line. They are unknown quality so could be the answer.....or could fail badly. Time will tell but at least the Mariners do have a plan B in their current forward pack.

All good points 

Which is a fine parallel with the two goals they scored against SFC.

SFC can look to Barbarouses for their failure against the Mariners. Almost every clearly butchered opportunity was at his boots. Does not mean on any other day he wouldn't have done better with at least one of them though. Still a dangerous player.

But Mariners could not have won without being in it, and they were in it all night. Fantastic result for them and great start to the season. Hoping they continue their success except against the Roar.

I thought Nisbet was the quietest I have seen him this season. I rate him both for effort and skills. In this game he was quiet (against his own yardstick) and I often lost sight of him in the game.

Bozanic is the steel in the lineup that has been missing. Simon still a thug. Birraz awesome. Grant was worse with his passing down the line than I can remember. A bit of an off game by his standards going forward.

Yay Mariners. Yay Mariners' supporters.

Really just talking about the very structured 2 blocks of 4 in defence that was mentioned.  

As the game wore on Bouman was giving him some trouble and his passing became ragged.