Mohamed Toure became the youngest goalscorer in A-League history as the 15-year-old wrapped up a 2-0 win for Adelaide United against Central Coast Mariners.

Toure this week signed a three-year scholarship contract with Adelaide and showed he could have a big future with a lively appearance off the bench.

His goal owed plenty to stellar work from team-mate Riley McGree, who burst from midfield and dashed down the left before delivering a low cross to the teenage striker.

Toure cracked the ball high into the net for his 84th-minute strike, having only come on seven minutes earlier, and tore off his shirt as he sprinted away in celebration.

February 14, 2020

That strike followed swiftly on from George Blackwood's excellent opener, and stole much of that goal's thunder.

Blackwood's 22-yard strike in the 82nd minute was sublime though, the striker collecting a short pass from McGree and curling a shot into the top right corner.

He celebrated by holding up the number 16 shirt of team-mate Nathan Konstandopoulos, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last week.

Long after the final whistle, history-maker Toure was signing autographs and posing for pictures with young supporters.

He revealed what coach Gertjan Verbeek told him as he prepared to enter the action, saying: "He said, 'Come on, do your thing down the wing to get us a goal', and I think I tried my best to get the team 2-0 up."

The youngster's brother Al Hassan Toure is also an Adelaide player, although the 19-year-old missed Friday's game due to injury.

Al Hassan said of his younger brother: "We always knew he had it in him. Our dad has taught us well, always to have a strong mind and play how you want and not how they've been brought up to play in Australia. He's been telling us to play how we feel and that's how we've been doing.

"I told him [Mohamed] to keep a cool head because football is ups and downs, you might be up one day and then you're down, and you always have to learn from your experiences. But he's shown that he can play in this league and he's good enough. A couple more years of experience and he'll be a good player."

McGree, speaking on Fox Sports, said of Toure: "He's young, he's eager, he's keen, he's confident, and that's great to see."

M. Touré

Logros