The 2013 A-League Grand Final was the eighth

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

Grand Final, which took place at the

Sydney Football Stadium Sydney Football Stadium may refer to: * Sydney Football Stadium (1988), the original stadium which was demolished in 2019. * Sydney Football Stadium (2022) Sydney Football Stadium, currently known as Allianz Stadium for sponsorship reasons, i ...

on 21 April 2013. The match was won by

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Mar ...

, who beat

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in t ...

2–0, in front of 42,102 people. This was the first time the Central Coast Mariners became champions of Australia, after losing three previous grand finals.

Route to the final

Both teams came into the final in good form, the Wanderers undefeated in 13 games and the Mariners having won their past 4 A-League games in a row. The sides had previously met three times over the course of the season, with each team winning one match as well as one draw. In their inaugural season, Wanderers performed strongly. Mixed early results were followed by a streak of 12 undefeated games, including a run of 10 wins in a row, which saw the side top the regular season table, winning the A-League premiership. In the semi-final, the Wanderers beat

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's football pyramid. When Queensland Lions F.C. were ...

2–0, scoring a goal in each half to qualify for the grand final. Entering the season as reigning A-League premiers, the Mariners had a strong season, highlighted by the fact that they lost only one match at their home ground,

Bluetongue Stadium Central Coast Stadium is a sports venue in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. From the establishment of the first venue at the site in 1915 it was known as Waterside Park, being renamed Grahame Park after significa ...

- against the Wanderers. After finishing second in the regular season, the Mariners played

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

in the semi-final, winning 1-0 through a Daniel McBreen goal and so qualifying for the final. The top six teams from the 2012–13 season qualified for the finals series, with the top two receiving byes into the semi-finals.

Match

Summary

It was announced by the

FFA FFA may refer to: Aviation and military * First Flight Airport, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States * Free-fire area in U.S. military parlance * Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein, a Swiss aircraft and railway vehicle manufacturer * Fe ...

, following

earning the right to host the grand final, that the match would be played at the

due to its greater capacity than the Wanderers usual home ground,

Parramatta Stadium Parramatta Stadium was a sports stadium in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, west of Sydney CBD. The stadium was the home ground of several western Sydney-based sports teams, at the time of closure the most notable were the Parramatta E ...

. The match was played in front of a sold-out crowd of 42,102 at the

- the largest crowd of the

2012–13 A-League The 2012–13 A-League was the 36th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the eighth season of the Australian A-League since its establishment in 2004. The 2012–13 season saw the introduction of a new Western Sydney-based team, the r ...

. In Australia, it was shown live on

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

. The first clear-cut chance of the match came when

Trent Sainsbury Trent Lucas Sainsbury (born 5 January 1992) is an Australian professional Association football, soccer player who plays for Central Coast Mariners FC, Central Coast Mariners. Sainsbury was born in Thornlie, Western Australia, Thornlie, Perth an ...

played a ball over the top for

Mile Sterjovski Mile Sterjovski (born 27 May 1979) is an Australian former professional soccer player. He played predominantly as a right winger or as a second striker, but also played as a left winger and central midfielder. Sterjovski is the current head coac ...

. Sterjovski got in behind the defence and chipped over Wanderers' 'keeper

Ante Covic Ante Covic (born 13 June 1975) is an Australian football manager and former soccer goalkeeper, and is the current manager of Bankstown City (Women) in NSW League One. Covic was a member of the Australian national team at the 2006 FIFA World C ...

, only for his shot to hit the crossbar and bounce out for a

goal kick A goal kick is a method of restarting the play in a game of association football. Its procedure is dictated by Law 16 of the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game. Award A goal kick is awarded to the defending team when the ...

. Shortly before half-time, the Mariners took the lead.

Michael McGlinchey Michael Ryan McGlinchey (born 7 January 1987) is a New Zealand former footballer who played as a midfielder. McGlinchey played youth football with Scottish club Celtic, where he made his professional debut. After spending time on loan to Dunf ...

's corner found Patrick Zwaanswijk at the near post, whose powerful header put the Mariners ahead going into half-time. Soon after play resumed, both Shinji Ono and Sterjovski had attempts on goal from attacking positions for their respective sides, but neither was able to put their shot on target. Midway through the half, the Mariners were awarded a penalty. It came after Daniel McBreen retrieved a ball deep inside the

penalty area The penalty area or 18-yard box (also known less formally as the penalty box or simply box) is an area of an association football pitch. It is rectangular and extends to each side of the goal and in front of it. If any part of the ball is ove ...

and cut back the

bouncing ball The physics of a bouncing ball concerns the physical behaviour of bouncing balls, particularly its motion before, during, and after impact against the surface of another body. Several aspects of a bouncing ball's behaviour serve as an introd ...

, only for it to hit the arm of Jérome Polenz, leading Peter Green to award a penalty. From the resultant penalty, McBreen sent Covic the wrong way, powering his shot into the top left corner and giving the Mariners a two-goal advantage which they retained until the final whistle. Daniel McBreen was awarded the

Joe Marston Medal The Joe Marston Medal is an A-League Men award given to the player of the match in the A-League Men Grand Final each year. Introduced in 1990, previously the award was also given to the best player in the National Soccer League grand final. The ...

as man of the match. The win marked the

' first

Championship.

Details

Statistics

References

External links

Official A-League Website
{{Central Coast Mariners FC matches 2012–13 A-League season A-League Men Grand Finals Central Coast Mariners FC matches Western Sydney Wanderers FC matches Soccer in Sydney A-League Men matches