CENTRAL Coast striker Jason Cummings has been left to rue a poor late penalty that cost him a hat-trick and the Mariners three points in their 2-2 A-League Men draw with Western United at Mars Stadium last Saturday.<\/p>\n
Leo Lacroix threw Marco Urena to the ground in the 90th minute to gift Central Coast a shot at victory.<\/p>\n
But Jamie Young batted away Cummings’ poor spot kick to ensure Nikolai Topor-Stanley’s record-breaking 359th league appearance ended with a point.<\/p>\n
“It’s a shocker. It’s a terrible penalty, man, I’m fuming,” Cummings said.<\/p>\n
“The boys [had] done well today as well and we bring it back to 2-2 there and then I’ve got a chance to score from the penalty spot. I should score there, man. I’m gutted.<\/p>\n
“I let the boys down a wee bit there at the end, so I’m fuming. I’m always fuming after games but that’s my bread and butter that, so I’m just gutted I missed.<\/p>\n
“… Should have been three points, man. I’m not going to sleep tonight.”<\/p>\n
Coach Nick Montgomery backed Cummings and said his side’s disappointment at only snatching a point from second-placed United reflected how far they’d come.<\/p>\n
“He’s clearly disappointed, he’s a top-class striker, he’s on for his hat-trick and not only that, it’s three points. So obviously there was a lot at stake,” he said.<\/p>\n
“But he’s scored a lot of penalties in big games and the best players in the world miss penalties.<\/p>\n
“But the boys picked him up in there and told him to stop moping around when we’ve got a game on Tuesday.”<\/p>\n
The Mariners snatched the lead in the 36th minute when\u00a0Young attempted to claim Noah Smith’s corner but missed the ball and it fell to Cummings, who scrambled a header home.<\/p>\n
There was a VAR review as Cummings’ header appeared to glance off his arm on route to goal but the decision was upheld.<\/p>\n
“From live I thought it was a handball but I didn’t see the replay after that,” United coach John Aloisi said.<\/p>\n
“The referee said that he couldn’t tell because the monitor was too small.\u00a0That’s strange for me.<\/p>\n
“If they called him over they clearly thought it was handball and then if they have a bigger monitor or a bigger screen then they need to make the decision.”<\/p>\n
United hit back in the 47th when Smith headed Neil Kilkenny’s free kick into his own net.<\/p>\n
In the 63rd minute, Lachie Wales brilliantly lofted a perfectly weighted ball for Aleksandar Prijovic to nod home and a\u00a0minute later, Cummings slammed a wonderful strike past Young to restore parity.<\/p>\n
Both teams had chances to snatch victory before the dramatic late penalty.<\/p>\n
Western United return to Ballarat again this weekend on Saturday, 9 March with 2.05pm kick-off fixture at Morshead Park against Wellington Phoenix.<\/p>\n
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