Alou Kuol impressing in short bursts for Mariners

It was the first away win for the Mariners against Sydney in seven years, and despite playing only 23 minutes after being subbed on in the second half, Kuol had plenty of impact.

His 74th-minute strike came just before he won a pair of strong contests and a foul in the middle of the arena and shortly after left a handful of defenders in his wake as he stormed the length of the pitch to get another shot on target off.

“Alou played 45 minutes the other night and Alou is one of those people who is a real fast-twitch athlete and has a lot of energy and explosivity and he can fatigue quite quickly and that's why he came off the other day at half-time,” head coach Alen Stajcic said.

“I thought we needed fresh legs (in the second half), (Jordan) Smylie and Alou came on and just gave us so much energy, the pressure on their sixes, the pressure on their centre-backs, the amount they were running back and then to still have the energy to be a threat on the counter attack was really good.”

Kuol had started in the table-topping Mariners’ first three fixtures of the season, but is being used in short bursts by Stajcic and is averaging less than 45 minutes a clash.

It means his two goals have come at an average of a successful shot per 86 minutes though — ranking him fifth in the league for goals per 90 minutes.

Kuol is also equal second for goals scored at this early stage of the season, and has the most shots on target (seven) as well as the highest shots on target percentage (87.5) of players to take more than four attempts at goal in the league.

“He'll continue to get better and better as he gets more experience at that level,” Goulburn Valley Suns coach Craig Carley said.

“For him to be scoring goals already as a teenager is great to see.”

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