2007–08 Central Coast Mariners FC season

Central Coast Mariners
2007–08 season
Chairman	Lyall Gorman
Manager	Lawrie McKinna
Stadium	Bluetongue Stadium
A-League regular season	Premiers
A-League finals	Runners-up
Pre-Season Cup	4th
Top goalscorer	League: ; John Aloisi (7); All: ; Sasho Petrovski (9)
Highest home attendance	36,354 vs Newcastle Jets; (24 February 2008)

The 2007–08 season was the 3rd season of competitive football played by Central Coast Mariners. The Mariners ended the season as A-League Premiers after topping the table in the regular season, but runners-up in the Championship after losing to local rivals Newcastle Jets in the 2008 A-League Grand Final.

In the transfer window the club signed experienced striker Sasho Petrovski and former Adelaide United midfielder Greg Owens. Left back Dean Heffernan also returned to the club after completing a loan spell with 1. FC Nürnberg. Club captain Noel Spencer was released, joining Sydney FC.

After a mixed pre-season, finishing fourth in the 2007 A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup, the Mariners began the 2007–08 A-League in good form, undefeated for their first five games. Winless runs in October and January saw a number of clubs threaten Central Coast at the top of the table. This included a 5–4 loss to Sydney FC in December, breaking the record for goals in an A-League match. The mid-season addition of Socceroo John Aloisi proved successful, with the striker scoring a team-high seven league goals. A win over Wellington Phoenix in the final game of the regular season secured a first Premiership for the club, ahead of Newcastle Jets on goal difference. In the Finals Series, the Mariners advanced to the Grand Final by defeating the Jets 3–2 over two legs. The Jets, however, claimed the Championship with a 1–0 win in controversial circumstances at the Sydney Football Stadium.

Background

The Mariners ended the previous season in sixth, missing out on the Finals Series.

Transfers

In

No.	Position	Player	Transferred from	Fee	Date	Ref
22	FW	Sasho Petrovski	Sydney FC	Free	12 February 2007	[1]
23	MF	Mile Jedinak	Sydney United	Free	26 February 2007	[2]
12	MF	Greg Owens	Adelaide United	Free	12 March 2007	[3]
8	DF	Dean Heffernan	1. FC Nürnberg	Loan return	6 June 2007	[4]
30	GK	Andrew Redmayne	Australian Institute of Sport	Free	19 June 2007	[5]
4	MF	Ian McAndrew	Central Coast Lightning	Free	1 August 2007	[6]
24	FW	Damian Mori	Adelaide City	Free	21 September 2007	[7]
25	FW	John Aloisi	Free agent	N/A	19 October 2007	[8]
26	DF	Alvin Ceccoli	Free agent	N/A	3 January 2008	[9]

Out

No.	Position	Player	Transferred to	Fee	Date	Ref
14	DF	Vuko Tomasevic	Free agent	N/A	25 January 2007	[10]
2	DF	Wayne O'Sullivan	Free agent	N/A	25 January 2007	[10]
4	MF	Noel Spencer	Sydney FC	Free	16 February 2007	[11]
8	MF	Jamie McMaster	Free agent	N/A	18 April 2007	[12]
12	FW	Stewart Petrie	Free agent	N/A	18 April 2007	[12]
1	GK	John Crawley	Retired	N/A	19 June 2007	[5]
24	FW	Damian Mori	Free agent	N/A	13 October 2007	[13]

Pre-season

22 May 2007 Friendly	Central Coast Mariners	3–0	Malaysia	Lisarow
	Hutchinson 55' Woodcock 78' Owens 86'	Report		Stadium: Pluim Park Attendance: 2,000 Referee: James Lewis

A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup

Group stage

Group B
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	BP	Pts
Central Coast Mariners	3	2	1	0	6	1	3	10
Queensland Roar	3	1	2	0	3	2	1	6
Wellington Phoenix	3	1	0	2	4	4	2	5
Sydney FC	3	0	1	2	0	6	0	1

14 July 2007 1	Central Coast Mariners	2–0	Wellington Phoenix	Gosford
18:00	Wilkinson 3' Kwasnik 32'	Report		Stadium: Bluetongue Stadium Attendance: 8,136 Referee: Strebre Delovski

21 July 2007 2	Central Coast Mariners	1–1	Queensland Roar	Orange
15:00	Boogaard 6'	Report	Lynch 60'	Stadium: Wade Park Attendance: 3,531 Referee: James Lewis

29 July 2007 3	Sydney FC	0–3	Central Coast Mariners	Canberra
15:00		Report	Osman 36' Kwasnik 44' Gumprecht 51'	Stadium: Canberra Stadium Attendance: 5,735 Referee: Ben Williams

Playoffs

4 August 2007 Semi-final	Central Coast Mariners	2–3	Perth Glory	Gosford
18:00	Mrdja 43' Petrovski 90'	Report	Dragičević 23' Bertos 55' Tarka 78'	Stadium: Bluetongue Stadium Attendance: 5,967 Referee: Ben Williams

12 August 2007 3rd place playoff	Central Coast Mariners	1–3	Queensland Roar	Gosford
16:00	Simon 9'	Report	Milicic 30' Marchinho 48' Reinaldo 86'	Stadium: Bluetongue Stadium Attendance: 3,500 Referee: James Lewis

2007–08 Hyundai A-League fixtures

24 August 2007	Sydney FC	0–1	Central Coast Mariners	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
20:00 UTC+10		Report Summary	Petrovski 7'	Attendance: 18,457 Referee: Peter Green

31 August 2007	Central Coast Mariners	3–0	Wellington Phoenix	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
20:00 UTC+10	Mrdja 9', 35' Kwasnik 13'	Report Summary		Attendance: 9,052 Referee: Peter Green

6 September 2007	Queensland Roar	0–1	Central Coast Mariners	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
20:00 UTC+10		Report Summary	Kwasnik 55'	Attendance: 8,815 Referee: Mark Shield

16 September 2007	Melbourne Victory	0–0	Central Coast Mariners	Telstra Dome, Melbourne
17:00 UTC+10		Report Summary	Vidmar 90+2'	Attendance: 27,351 Referee: Mark Shield

23 September 2007	Central Coast Mariners	1–0	Perth Glory	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
19:00 UTC+10	Petrovski 80'	Report Summary		Attendance: 9,274 Referee: Craig Zetter

30 September 2007	Adelaide United	2–1	Central Coast Mariners	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
16:30 UTC+9:30	Djite 19', 88'	Report Summary	Petrovski 37' Vidmar 65' 79'	Attendance: 11,019 Referee: Matthew Breeze

7 October 2007	Central Coast Mariners	1–1	Newcastle Jets	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
17:00 UTC+10	Pondeljak 62'	Report Summary	Bridge 82'	Attendance: 12,622 Referee: Matthew Breeze

14 October 2007	Central Coast Mariners	0–1	Queensland Roar	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
17:00 UTC+10	Porter 31'	Report Summary	McCloughan 5'	Attendance: 8,113 Referee: Peter O'Leary

21 October 2007	Wellington Phoenix	1–2	Central Coast Mariners	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
17:00 UTC+12	Elrich 24'	Report Summary	Heffernan 16' Petrovski 90+1'	Attendance: 10,560 Referee: Peter Green

28 October 2007	Sydney FC	3–2	Central Coast Mariners	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
15:00 UTC+10	Brosque 16', 26' Popovic 32'	Report Summary	Hutchinson 27', 56'	Attendance: 17,652 Referee: Mark Shield

4 November 2007	Central Coast Mariners	2–1	Melbourne Victory	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
17:00 UTC+11	Petrovski 83', 73' 90' Pondeljak 88'	Report Summary	Keenan 22' Hernández 77' Vargas 90'	Attendance: 11,354 Referee: Mark Shield

10 November 2007	Central Coast Mariners	2–0	Adelaide United	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
17:00 UTC+11	J.Aloisi 48' (pen.), 59'	Report Summary		Attendance: 11,680 Referee: Simon Przydacz

18 November 2007	Perth Glory	0–1	Central Coast Mariners	Members Equity Stadium, Perth
19:00 UTC+9		Summary	Owens 13' Jedinak 83' 88'	Attendance: 7,310 Referee: Craig Zetter

25 November 2007	Newcastle Jets	0–0	Central Coast Mariners	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
17:00 UTC+11		Report Summary		Attendance: 14,169 Referee: Mark Shield

9 December 2007	Queensland Roar	2–1	Central Coast Mariners	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
18:00 UTC+10	Vidmar 21' (o.g.) McKay 28'	Report Summary	J.Aloisi 13'	Attendance: 16,442 Referee: Ben Williams

14 December 2007	Adelaide United	1–2	Central Coast Mariners	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
19:30 UTC+10:30	Agostino 70'	Report Summary	J.Aloisi 24' Petrovski 48'	Attendance: 11,123 Referee: Peter Green

22 December 2007[14]	Central Coast Mariners	4–5	Sydney FC	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
19:00 UTC+11	Jedinak 3' J.Aloisi 16' Vukovic 17' Owens 63' (pen.) Kwasnik 86' 90+4'	Report Summary	Fyfe 33' McFlynn 50' Biddle 71' Santalab 76' Talay 90+5' (pen.)	Attendance: 17,514 Referee: Matthew Breeze

31 December 2007	Central Coast Mariners	2–5	Melbourne Victory	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
18:00 UTC+11	Jedinak 32' J.Aloisi 63'	Report Summary	Caceres 4' Allsopp 23', 61' Thompson 36' Muscat 43' (pen.)	Attendance: 18,686 Referee: Mark Shield

6 January 2008	Perth Glory	1–1	Central Coast Mariners	Members Equity Stadium, Perth
19:00 UTC+9	Rukavytsya 69'	Report Summary	Hutchinson 38'	Attendance: 6,727 Referee: Strebre Delovski

12 January 2008	Central Coast Mariners	1–2	Newcastle Jets	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
19:00 UTC+11	Kwasnik 9'	Report Summary	Holland 6' J. Griffiths 52'	Attendance: 19,238 Referee: Matthew Breeze

19 January 2008	Central Coast Mariners	2–0	Wellington Phoenix	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
19:00 UTC+11	Aloisi 52' Kwasnik 90+4'	Report Summary		Attendance: 9,849 Referee: Kevin Docherty

2007–08 Finals series

27 January 2008 Major SF Leg 1	Newcastle Jets	2–0	Central Coast Mariners	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
18:00 UTC+11	A. Griffiths 22' J. Griffiths 85' (pen.)	Report Summary		Attendance: 22,960 Referee: Matthew Breeze

10 February 2008 Major SF Leg 2	Central Coast Mariners	3 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Newcastle Jets	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
18:00 UTC+11	Kwasnik 37' Petrovski 74', 95'	Summary		Attendance: 19,112 Referee: Ben Williams

24 February 2008 Grand Final	Central Coast Mariners	0–1	Newcastle Jets	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
17:00 UTC+11	Vukovic 90+5'	Summary	Bridge 64'	Attendance: 36,354 Referee: Mark Shield

Home-and-Away Season

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Central Coast Mariners	21	10	4	7	30	25	+5	34	Qualification for 2009 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series[lower-alpha 1]
2	Newcastle Jets (C)	21	9	7	5	25	21	+4	34
3	Sydney FC	21	8	8	5	28	24	+4	32	Qualification for 2008 Pan-Pacific Championship and Finals series
4	Queensland Roar	21	8	7	6	25	21	+4	31	Qualification for Finals series
5	Melbourne Victory	21	6	9	6	29	29	0	27
6	Adelaide United	21	6	8	7	31	29	+2	26
7	Perth Glory	21	4	8	9	27	34	−7	20
8	Wellington Phoenix[lower-alpha 2]	21	5	5	11	25	37	−12	20

Source: ultimatealeague.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions
Notes:

First place qualifies for the 2009 AFC Champions League group stage.
Winning the 2008 A-League Grand Final earns qualification for the 2009 AFC Champions League group stage, unless the Grand Final winners are also first place, in which case the Grand Final runner up qualifies.
Wellington Phoenix cannot qualify for the AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.

Player statistics

Key

No. = Squad number

Pos = Playing position

Nat. = Nationality

Apps = Appearances

GK = Goalkeeper

DF = Defender

MF = Midfielder

FW = Forward

= Yellow cards

= Red cards

Numbers in parentheses denote appearances as substitute. Players with number struck through and marked † left the club during the playing season.

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	A-League		A-League finals		Pre-Season Cup		Total		Discipline
No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	AUS	Matthew Trott	4 (1)	0	0	0	2	0	6 (1)	0	0	0
2	FW	AUS	Matt Simon	4 (14)	0	0 (2)	0	1	1	5 (16)	1	0	0
3	DF	AUS	Paul O'Grady	2 (4)	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	2 (5)	0	2	0
4	MF	AUS	Ian McAndrew	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0	0
5	MF	AUS	Brad Porter	5 (3)	0	0	0	0 (4)	0	5 (7)	0	0	1
6	MF	GER	André Gumprecht	8 (6)	0	0 (3)	0	5	1	13 (9)	1	3	0
7	MF	AUS	John Hutchinson	18	3	3	0	4	0	25	3	7	0
8	DF	AUS	Dean Heffernan	15 (1)	1	0	0	2 (1)	0	17 (2)	1	7	0
9	FW	AUS	Nik Mrdja	3	2	0	0	3 (2)	1	6 (2)	3	1	0
10	MF	AUS	Tom Pondeljak	13 (5)	2	2 (1)	0	2 (2)	0	17 (8)	2	0	0
11	DF	AUS	Damien Brown	7 (1)	0	0	0	3	0	10 (1)	0	2	0
12	MF	AUS	Greg Owens	10 (2)	2	1 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	11 (4)	2	2	0
13	DF	AUS	Tony Vidmar	15	0	3	0	1 (2)	0	19 (2)	0	6	2
15	DF	AUS	Andrew Clark	12 (5)	0	0 (2)	0	1	0	13 (7)	0	5	0
16	DF	AUS	Nigel Boogaard	13 (1)	0	3	0	4 (1)	1	20 (2)	1	5	0
17	MF	AUS	Matthew Osman	6 (1)	0	0	0	5	1	11 (1)	1	0	0
18	DF	AUS	Alex Wilkinson	12	0	3	0	5	1	20	1	1	0
19	FW	AUS	Adam Kwasnik	12 (7)	5	3	1	5	2	20 (7)	8	2	0
20	GK	AUS	Danny Vukovic	17	0	3	0	3	0	23	0	1	2
22	FW	AUS	Sasho Petrovski	18 (1)	6	3	2	4	1	25 (1)	9	11	1
23	MF	AUS	Mile Jedinak	19	2	3	0	5	0	27	2	8	1
24	FW	AUS	Damian Mori †	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0
25	DF	AUS	John Aloisi	12	7	3	0	0	0	15	7	4	0
26	DF	AUS	Alvin Ceccoli	3	0	3	0	0	0	6	0	0	0
30	GK	AUS	Andrew Redmayne	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

References

"Petrovski signs with Mariners". News.com.au. 12 February 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
"Jedi signs permanent deal for 2007–08" (Press release). Central Coast Mariners FC. 26 February 2007.
"Mariners snap up Owens". The World Game. 12 March 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
"Heffernan returns to the Central Coast". ESPN FC. 6 June 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
"Out with the old, in with the new" (Press release). Central Coast Mariners FC. 19 June 2007.
"Mariners sign teenage defender". Fox Sports. 1 August 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
Smithies, Tom (21 September 2007). "Mariners land old boy Mori". Fox Sports. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
Henderson, Philip (19 October 2007). "Mariners confirm signing John Aloisi". ESPN FC. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
"Ceccoli back as 'ancient mariner'". Fox Sports. 3 January 2008. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
"Mariners axe A-League skipper Spencer". The Sydney Morning Herald. 25 January 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
Cockerill, Mike (16 February 2007). "Mariner finds his way to Sydney for the Asian experience". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
"New deals for Mariners duo". The World Game. 18 April 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
"Pacesetters Central Coast Mariners are "down to the bare bones"". The Daily Telegraph. 13 October 2007.
Match postponed due to heavy rain affecting pitch conditions.

External links

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[table_note_res_GS0.55972573792549-15] First place qualifies for the 2009 AFC Champions League group stage.
Winning the 2008 A-League Grand Final earns qualification for the 2009 AFC Champions League group stage, unless the Grand Final winners are also first place, in which case the Grand Final runner up qualifies.

[table_note_WP0.55972573792549-16] Wellington Phoenix cannot qualify for the AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.

[1] "Petrovski signs with Mariners". News.com.au. 12 February 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2016.

[2] "Jedi signs permanent deal for 2007–08" (Press release). Central Coast Mariners FC. 26 February 2007.

[3] "Mariners snap up Owens". The World Game. 12 March 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2016.

[4] "Heffernan returns to the Central Coast". ESPN FC. 6 June 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2016.

[gks-5] "Out with the old, in with the new" (Press release). Central Coast Mariners FC. 19 June 2007.

[6] "Mariners sign teenage defender". Fox Sports. 1 August 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2016.

[7] Smithies, Tom (21 September 2007). "Mariners land old boy Mori". Fox Sports. Retrieved 9 September 2016.

[8] Henderson, Philip (19 October 2007). "Mariners confirm signing John Aloisi". ESPN FC. Retrieved 9 September 2016.

[9] "Ceccoli back as 'ancient mariner'". Fox Sports. 3 January 2008. Retrieved 9 September 2016.

[release-10] "Mariners axe A-League skipper Spencer". The Sydney Morning Herald. 25 January 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2016.

[11] Cockerill, Mike (16 February 2007). "Mariner finds his way to Sydney for the Asian experience". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 September 2016.

[rels-12] "New deals for Mariners duo". The World Game. 18 April 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2016.

[13] "Pacesetters Central Coast Mariners are "down to the bare bones"". The Daily Telegraph. 13 October 2007.

[14] Match postponed due to heavy rain affecting pitch conditions.

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