2015–16 Central Coast Mariners FC season

Central Coast Mariners
2015–16 season
ChairmanMichael Charlesworth
ManagerTony Walmsley
StadiumCentral Coast Stadium
A-League10th
FFA CupRound of 32
Top goalscorerRoy O'Donovan (8 goals)
Highest home attendance14,268 vs. Melbourne Victory
(8 January 2016)
Lowest home attendance4,514 vs. Melbourne City
(3 December 2015)
Average home league attendance8,111

The 2015–16 Central Coast Mariners FC season was the club's 11th season since its establishment in 2004. The club participated in the A-League for the 11th time and the FFA Cup for the 2nd time.

Review

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Pre-season

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The Mariners entered the 2015–16 season with significant change, following a relatively unsuccessful 2014–15 season. It was announced in April 2015 that Tony Walmsley would be given the permanent manager position, having previously filled the role in an interim capacity.[1] Nick Montgomery was named club captain following the retirement of long-serving midfielder John Hutchinson in May 2015.[2] There was also significant early activity in the transfer market, with a number of players released.[3] The most notable of these was striker and club-record goalscorer Matt Simon.[4] The club's first signing of the season was Irish former Premier League striker Roy O'Donovan.[5] In July, after ten seasons with the club as a player, goalkeeping coach and assistant coach, John Crawley left the club to take up a position at Sydney FC. His position was taken by the retiring Matthew Nash, whose place in the squad was taken in turn by former Adelaide United and Young Socceroos goalkeeper Paul Izzo.[6]

The Mariners won their opening pre-season friendly, a 2–1 victory over F3 Derby rivals Newcastle Jets in a training match.[7] This was followed by a win over Western Sydney Wanderers two days later, with triallist Dan Heffernan scoring a hat-trick.[8]

Central Coast were eliminated in the first round of the 2015 FFA Cup by Wellington Phoenix, an error from goalkeeper Paul Izzo and a missed penalty from Roy O'Donovan consigning the team to a 1–0 loss.[9]

The club had a pre-season tour to Canberra in mid-August, which saw them pick up wins over Canberra Olympic and Gungahlin United.[10]

October

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The Mariners started the 2015–16 A-League season with a win over Perth Glory. After Roy O'Donovan scored the opening goal of the season from a rebound, two second-half penalties scored by Fábio Ferreira gave Central Coast a 3–2 win.[11]

Players

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Squad information

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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Australia AUS Paul Izzo
2 DF New Zealand NZL Storm Roux
3 DF Australia AUS Joshua Rose
4 MF Australia AUS Jacob Poscoliero
5 DF Australia AUS Harry Ascroft
6 MF Australia AUS Mitch Austin
7 MF Portugal POR Fábio Ferreira
8 MF Scotland SCO Nick Montgomery (captain)
9 FW Republic of Ireland IRL Roy O'Donovan
10 MF Spain ESP Luis García
12 FW Australia AUS Trent Buhagiar
No. Pos. Nation Player
13 GK Australia AUS Alastair Bray
14 FW England ENG Daniel Heffernan
15 DF Papua New Guinea PNG Brad McDonald
16 MF Australia AUS Liam Rose
17 FW Australia AUS Francesco Stella
19 FW Australia AUS Josh Bingham
21 DF Australia AUS Michael Neill
22 MF Australia AUS Jake McGing
23 DF Australia AUS Tomislav Uskok
28 FW Australia AUS Matthew Fletcher

Transfers in

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No.
Pos.
Nat.
Name
Age
Moving from
Type
Transfer
window
Ends
Transfer
fee
Source
1 GK Australia Paul Izzo 20 Adelaide United Transfer Pre-season 2017 ccmariners.com.au
5 DF Australia Harry Ascroft 20 Free agent Transfer Pre-season 2018 ccmariners.com.au
6 MF Australia Mitch Austin 24 Cambridge United England Transfer Pre-season 2017 ccmariners.com.au
9 FW Republic of Ireland Roy O'Donovan 29 Mitra Kukar Indonesia Transfer Pre-season 2017 ccmariners.com.au
14 FW England Daniel Heffernan 28 Heidelberg United Transfer Pre-season 2016 ccmariners.com.au
23 DF Australia Tomislav Uskok 24 Melbourne Knights Transfer Round 7 2016 ccmariners.com.au
17 FW Australia Francesco Stella 24 Avondale FC Transfer Round 14 2016 ccmariners.com.au
13 GK Australia Alastair Bray 22 Green Gully Transfer Round 14 2016 ccmariners.com.au
15 DF Papua New Guinea Brad McDonald 25 Manly United Transfer Round 15 2017 ccmariners.com.au
10 MF Spain Luis García 37 Free agent Transfer Round 15 2016 ccmariners.com.au
28 FW Australia Matthew Fletcher 23 Free agent Transfer Round 15 2017 ccmariners.com.au

Transfers out

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N
Pos.
Nat.
Name
Age
Moving to
Type
Transfer
window
Transfer
fee
Source
1 GK Australia Matthew Nash 34 Retired Pre-season ccmariners.com.au
5 DF Australia Zachary Anderson 24 Sydney FC Released Pre-season sydneyfc.com
6 DF Australia Brent Griffiths 25 Released Pre-season a-league.com.au
7 MF Malta John Hutchinson 35 Retired Pre-season
17 MF Hungary Richárd Vernes 23 Budapest Honvéd Hungary Loan terminated Pre-season nemzetisport.hu (in Hungarian)
19 FW Australia Matt Simon 28 Sydney FC Released Pre-season sydneyfc.com
22 MF Australia Tom Slater 18 Released Pre-season a-league.com.au
23 MF Australia Isaka Cernak 26 SuperSport United South Africa Released Pre-season goal.com
24 DF Australia Hayden Morton 21 Released Pre-season a-league.com.au
29 MF Australia Dejan Pandurevic 18 Manly United Released Pre-season a-league.com.au
23 DF Australia Eddy Bosnar 35 Released Round 5 ccmariners.com.au
12 GK Australia Liam Reddy 34 Released Round 10 ccmariners.com.au
11 FW Australia Nick Fitzgerald 23 Released Round 14 ccmariners.com.au
10 MF Australia Anthony Cáceres 23 Manchester City England Transfer Round 15 $300,000[12] ccmariners.com.au
15 MF Australia Matt Sim 27 Released Round 15 ccmariners.com.au
20 MF Australia Anthony Kalik 18 Hajduk Split Croatia Loan Round 18 ccmariners.com.au
18 MF Australia Glen Trifiro 26 Released Round 21 ccmariners.com.au

Club

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Coaching staff

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Position Staff
Head coach
Technical director
Australia Tony Walmsley
Assistant coach Malta John Hutchinson
Goalkeeping coach Australia Matthew Nash
Strength and
conditioning coach
Australia Brice Johnson
Physiotherapist Australia Andrew Nealon
Youth football coach New Zealand Stu Jacobs
Head of sports science Australia Tim Knight

Other information

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Majority Owner/Chairman England Michael Charlesworth
Executive Vice Chairman England Peter Storrie
Chief Executive Officer Australia Shaun Mielekamp
Ground (capacity and dimensions) Central Coast Stadium (20,059 / 105x68 metres)

Source: ccmariners.com.au

Statistics

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Squad statistics

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N Pos. Nat. Name Total A-League FFA Cup
Apps Goals Yellow card Second yellow card Red card Apps Goals Yellow card Second yellow card Red card Apps Goals Yellow card Second yellow card Red card
1 GK Australia Paul Izzo 22 0 0 1 0 21 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
2 DF New Zealand Storm Roux 21 1 1 0 0 20 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
3 DF Australia Joshua Rose 24 0 4 0 0 23 0 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
4 MF Australia Jacob Poscoliero 21 0 8 0 0 20+1 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 DF Australia Harry Ascroft 22 3 6 0 1 19+2 3 5 0 1 1 0 1 0 0
6 MF Australia Mitch Austin 24 5 3 1 0 22+1 5 3 1 0 0+1 0 0 0 0
7 MF Portugal Fábio Ferreira 22 7 1 1 0 18+3 7 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
8 MF Scotland Nick Montgomery 23 0 11 0 1 22 0 10 0 1 1 0 1 0 0
9 FW Republic of Ireland Roy O'Donovan 20 8 5 0 0 19 8 5 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
10 MF Spain Luis García 10 2 1 1 0 7+3 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 FW Australia Trent Buhagiar 5 0 0 0 0 2+3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 GK Australia Alastair Bray 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
14 FW England Daniel Heffernan 7 0 0 0 0 3+4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
15 DF Papua New Guinea Brad McDonald 8 0 0 0 0 0+8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
16 MF Australia Liam Rose 25 0 5 0 0 18+6 0 5 0 0 0+1 0 0 0 0
17 FW Australia Francesco Stella 8 0 0 0 0 3+5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
19 MF Australia Josh Bingham 20 3 3 0 0 7+13 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
21 DF Australia Michael Neill 21 1 3 1 0 16+4 1 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
22 MF Australia Jake McGing 23 0 4 0 1 20+2 0 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
23 DF Australia Tomislav Uskok 6 0 2 0 0 4+2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
24 DF Australia Jake Adelson 2 0 1 0 0 1+1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
25 DF Australia Adam Berry 1 0 0 0 0 0+1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
26 DF Australia Brian Jamba 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
28 FW Australia Matthew Fletcher 7 0 0 0 0 2+5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
30 GK Australia Adam Pearce 2 0 0 0 0 1+1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
40 GK Australia Tom Heward-Belle 3 0 0 0 0 2+1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Players no longer at the club:
10 MF Australia Anthony Cáceres 13 0 1 0 0 11+1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
11 MF Australia Nick Fitzgerald 12 1 1 1 0 11 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
12 GK Australia Liam Reddy 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
15 MF Australia Matt Sim 7 2 1 0 0 2+4 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
18 MF Australia Glen Trifiro 1 0 0 0 0 0+1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
20 MF Australia Anthony Kalik 5 0 0 0 0 0+5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
23 DF Australia Eddy Bosnar 1 0 0 0 0 0+1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Pre-season and friendlies

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5 August 2015 Central Coast Mariners 2–1 Newcastle Jets Gosford
Wednesday Bosnar
Fitzgerald
Report Stadium: Central Coast Stadium
Attendance: 0 (Behind closed doors)
10 September 2015 Sydney FC 1–3 Central Coast Mariners Sydney
Thursday Ninković O'Donovan
J. Rose
Sim
Stadium: Leichhardt Oval
Attendance: 0 (Behind closed doors)
14 September 2015 Melbourne Victory 3–0 Central Coast Mariners Melbourne
Monday 14:00 AEST Georgievski 50'
Berisha 58', 60'
Report Stadium: AAMI Park
Attendance: 0 (Behind closed doors)
Referee: Jonathan Barreiro
20 September 2015 Central Coast Mariners 0–1 Newcastle Jets Orange
Sunday 15:00 AEST Report Hoffman 53' Stadium: Wade Park
Attendance: 2,142
Referee: Matthew Cropper

Competitions

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Overall

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Competition Started round Final
position / round
First match Last match
A-League 10th 10 October 2015 9 April 2015
FFA Cup Round of 32 Round of 32 11 August 2015 11 August 2015

A-League

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League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Adelaide United (C) 27 14 7 6 45 28 +17 49 Qualification for 2017 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series
2 Western Sydney Wanderers 27 14 6 7 44 33 +11 48
3 Brisbane Roar 27 14 6 7 49 40 +9 48 Qualification for 2017 AFC Champions League second preliminary round and Finals series
4 Melbourne City 27 13 5 9 63 44 +19 44 Qualification for Finals series
5 Perth Glory 27 13 4 10 49 42 +7 43
6 Melbourne Victory 27 11 8 8 40 33 +7 41
7 Sydney FC 27 8 10 9 36 36 0 34
8 Newcastle Jets 27 8 6 13 28 41 −13 30
9 Wellington Phoenix[a] 27 7 4 16 34 54 −20 25
10 Central Coast Mariners 27 3 4 20 33 70 −37 13
Source: A-Leagues
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions
Notes:
  1. ^ Wellington Phoenix cannot qualify for the AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.

Results summary

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Overall Home Away
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts W D L GF GA GD W D L GF GA GD
27 3 4 20 33 70  −37 13 2 3 9 19 32  −13 1 1 11 14 38  −24

Last updated: 9 April 2016.
Source: ultimatealeague.com

Results by round

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Round123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627
GroundHAAHHAAHHAHAHHAHAAHAHHAHAAH
ResultWLLLDDLLLLLLWDLLWLLLLLLDLLL
Position248988889101010101010101010101010101010101010
Updated to match(es) played on 9 April 2016. Source: ultimatealeague.com
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

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10 October 2015 1 Central Coast Mariners 3–2 Perth Glory Gosford
Saturday 17:15 AEDT O'Donovan 9'
F. Ferreira 58' (pen.), 67' (pen.)
Report R. Garcia 23'
Sándor 90+3'
Stadium: Central Coast Stadium
Attendance: 8,073
Referee: Strebre Delovski
18 October 2015 2 Brisbane Roar 2–1 Central Coast Mariners Brisbane
Sunday 16:00 AEST Borrello 14', 60' Report Bingham 88' Stadium: Suncorp Stadium
Attendance: 14,471
Referee: Ben Williams
25 October 2015 3 Melbourne City 3–1 Central Coast Mariners Melbourne
Sunday 17:00 AEDT Kisnorbo 11'
Fornaroli 53', 72'
Report Fitzgerald 13' Stadium: AAMI Park
Attendance: 8,408
Referee: Chris Beath
31 October 2015 4 Central Coast Mariners 1–3 Sydney FC Gosford
Saturday 17:15 AEDT O'Donovan 35'
Fitzgerald Yellow card 40' Yellow-red card 42'
Report Smeltz 34'
Simon 82', 88'
Stadium: Central Coast Stadium
Attendance: 10,030
Referee: Adam Fielding
14 November 2015 6 Newcastle Jets 1–1 Central Coast Mariners Newcastle
Saturday 17:15 AEDT Trifunović 83' Report McGing Red card 24'
Sim 90+2'
Stadium: Hunter Stadium
Attendance: 9,422
Referee: Kris Griffiths-Jones
19 November 2015 7 Melbourne Victory 2–1 Central Coast Mariners Melbourne
Thursday 20:00 AEDT Finkler 16', 19' Report Sim 89' Stadium: AAMI Park
Attendance: 16,669
Referee: Ben Williams
29 November 2015 8 Central Coast Mariners 0–2 Western Sydney Wanderers Gosford
Sunday 17:00 AEDT Report Šantalab 66'
Nichols 90+2'
Stadium: Central Coast Stadium
Attendance: 10,519
Referee: Alan Milliner
3 December 2015 9 Central Coast Mariners 1–5 Melbourne City Gosford
Thursday 20:00 AEDT Austin 86' (pen.) Report Novillo 26', 57'
Fornaroli 45'
Mauk 75'
Mooy 90+5'
Stadium: Central Coast Stadium
Attendance: 4,514
Referee: Strebre Delovski
12 December 2015 10 Perth Glory 2–1 Central Coast Mariners Perth
Saturday 18:40 AWST Marinković 62', 64' Report O'Donovan 28' Stadium: nib Stadium
Attendance: 5,590
Referee: Ben Williams
20 December 2015 11 Central Coast Mariners 0–1 Brisbane Roar Gosford
Sunday 17:00 AEDT Report D. Petratos 85' Stadium: Central Coast Stadium
Attendance: 5,124
Referee: Chris Beath
26 December 2015 12 Sydney FC 4–1 Central Coast Mariners Sydney
Saturday 19:30 AEDT Brosque 12', 24' (pen.)
Tavares 30' (pen.)
McGing 84' (o.g.)
Report Izzo Yellow card 23' Yellow-red card 27' Stadium: Allianz Stadium
Attendance: 12,648
Referee: Ben Williams
8 January 2016 14 Central Coast Mariners 3–3 Melbourne Victory Geelong
Friday 19:40 AEDT Ascroft 12'
Bingham 30'
Austin 35'
Report Berisha 60' (pen.), 90+2'
Thompson 66'
Stadium: Simonds Stadium
Attendance: 14,268
Referee: Peter Green
16 January 2016 15 Adelaide United 3–1 Central Coast Mariners Adelaide
Saturday 16:45 ACDT Goodwin 60'
Sánchez 80'
Dugandzic 90+2'
Report F. Ferreria 67' Stadium: Coopers Stadium
Attendance: 11,125
Referee: Matthew Conger
6 February 2016 18 Brisbane Roar 4–0 Central Coast Mariners Brisbane
Saturday 16:15 AEST North 20'
Maclaren 36'
Corona 59'
Henrique 72' (pen.)
Report Ascroft Red card 71' Stadium: Suncorp Stadium
Attendance: 11,788
Referee: Matthew Conger
14 February 2016 19 Central Coast Mariners 2–3 Adelaide United Gosford
Sunday 19:00 AEDT F. Ferreira 32'
Bingham 90+4'
Report Isaías 54'
Djite 66'
Mauk 90+2'
Stadium: Central Coast Stadium
Attendance: 5,096
Referee: Jarred Gillett
21 February 2016 20 Melbourne City 4–1 Central Coast Mariners Melbourne
Sunday 17:00 AEDT Kisnorbo 48'
Mooy 66' (pen.), 90+10'
Garuccio 69'
Report Austin 34'
Ferreira Yellow card 55' Yellow-red card 85'
Stadium: AAMI Park
Attendance: 7,535
Referee: Stephen Lucas
6 March 2016 22 Central Coast Mariners 0–2 Melbourne Victory Gosford
Sunday 17:00 AEDT Neill Yellow card 7' Yellow-red card 48' Report Berisha 12'
Ben Khalfallah 90'
Stadium: Central Coast Stadium
Attendance: 5,032
Referee: Shaun Evans
12 March 2016 23 Perth Glory 4–0 Central Coast Mariners Perth
Saturday 14:15 AWST Castro 4' (pen.)
Keogh 53', 67' (pen.)
Harold 90+4'
Report Austin Yellow card 37' Yellow-red card 49'
L. García Yellow card 51' Yellow-red card 54'
Stadium: nib Stadium
Attendance: 11,127
Referee: Adam Fielding
19 March 2016 24 Central Coast Mariners 2–2 Sydney FC Gosford
Saturday 17:15 AEDT O'Donovan 86'
Ascroft 90+1'
Report Blackwood 11'
Smeltz 45'
Stadium: Central Coast Stadium
Attendance: 6,383
Referee: Koichiro Fukushima (Japan)
27 March 2016 25 Adelaide United 4–2 Central Coast Mariners Adelaide
Sunday 16:30 ACDT Isaías 29'
Mauk 35'
Djite 38'
Sánchez 81' (pen.)
Report O'Donovan 16', 83' Stadium: Coopers Stadium
Attendance: 10,269
Referee: Stephen Lucas

FFA Cup

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11 August 2015 Round of 32 Central Coast Mariners New South Wales 0–1 New Zealand Wellington Phoenix Gosford
Tuesday 19:30 AEST Report Appiah 17' Stadium: Central Coast Stadium
Attendance: 6,111
Referee: Stephen Lucas

References

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  1. ^ "Walmsley vows Gosford glamour". Central Coast Mariners. 14 April 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  2. ^ "Club Statement: Montgomery Named Skipper". Central Coast Mariners. 19 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  3. ^ "Cernak axed as Mariners begin squad rebuild". Football Federation Australia. 1 May 2015.
  4. ^ "Simon to part ways with Mariners". Football Federation Australia. 17 March 2015.
  5. ^ "Breaking News: Roy O'Donovan joins Mariners". Central Coast Mariners. 30 May 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  6. ^ "Mariners sign keeper Izzo from Adelaide". Nine's Wide World of Sports. 8 July 2015. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  7. ^ "Jets go down in friendly". NBN Television. 5 August 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  8. ^ "Match summary: Heffernan hat-trick sinks Wanderers". Central Coast Mariners. 7 August 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  9. ^ "Wellington Phoenix, Perth Glory, Western Sydney Wanderers, Oakleigh Cannons advance to FFA Cup last 16". ABC. 12 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  10. ^ "Central Coast Mariners complete Canberra double with 3–1 win over Gungahlin United". Sydney Morning Herald. 20 August 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  11. ^ "Ferreira shines as Mariners beat Perth Glory in Gosford". ABC. 10 October 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  12. ^ Davutovic, David (15 January 2016). "A-League 2015–16 Get Foxtel Melbourne City trumps A-League rivals for Central Coast's Anthony Caceres". Fox Sports. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
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