The Central Coast Mariners head to the City of Churches to meet Adelaide United in Hyundai A-League round 15 after a six-goal thriller against Melbourne Victory last Friday night.
Head Coach, Tony Walmsley spoke about defensive cover for the absence of Jacob Poscoliero who is suspended for Saturday night’s encounter as well as the confidence his side will take from last week’s performance against Melbourne Victory.
Mitch Austin credited his teammates for the recent run of good form and specifically mentioned the Mariners’ new-look midfield.
Key stats
- Central Coast have scored eight set piece goals this season, the second most of any team and only one behind Melbourne City (9).
- The Mariners haven’t beaten Adelaide on the road since March 2013, though they’d won their two such clashes prior to that.
- Adelaide have won five and drawn three of their last nine Hyundai A-League matches inc. play-offs on home turf and have kept three clean sheets in their last four home matches.
Tony Walmsley
“The key in this sort of heat is to train at the right intensity but also at the right duration because you don’t want them out there too long,” Walmsley said.
“Adelaide are on a good run, the beauty of the situation is that we play Adelaide three times now, as strange as that may seem with over half of the season done.
“We’ve missed them in their formative rebuilding stage which is perhaps a bit unfortunate, we’re catching them whilst their tails are up, but they’re also catching us with a sea change and we’re looking forward to it.
“The quality and intensity which we went about that game [Melbourne Victory] was clear for everybody and the goals we scored were fantastic.
“Posco [Jacob Poscoliero] is our only forced change after his fifth yellow card who is a loss after two great performances. We have to decide whether Tomi Uskok makes his starting debut or if Jake McGing slots back into centre back to bring Liam Rose in but all of those options are good for us. We go in almost full strength against Adelaide.”
“It was touch and go against Wellington whether we started Tomi Uskok then but we chose Posco who’s been outstanding. Tomi is limpressing at training and provides a real presence as well as a little more experience at the back.”
Mitch Austin
“We’ve been playing well, I’ve enjoyed playing with the two new midfielders in Mickey Neill and Jake McGing who provide some cover for me which has been a big factor,” Austin said.
“After 30 odd minutes we were three nil up, I don’t think we could really believe it either but it’s given us massive confidence. Obviously the second half comes down to a bit of lack of experience from us but I think we will learn from that so hopefully this week if we go a couple of goals up we will be smarter and won’t concede.
“In that first half against the Champions we were all over them, Adelaide are going to be a tough team who have some really good players, it’s going to be hot but I think if we play like the first half from last week we’ve got a real chance to take something from the game.
“When I think back to where I was last year, not even playing in non-league football to now, I owe a lot to Tony and Hutch who brought me in and gave me the chance to do well so I’m just taking it one step at a time, doing well for the Mariners and who knows what can happen if I keep doing well.”
Central Coast Mariners squad: 2.Storm ROUX, 3.Josh ROSE, 5.Harry ASCROFT, 6.Mitch AUSTIN, 7.Fabio FERREIRA, 8.Nick MONTGOMERY (c), 12.Trent BUHAGIAR, 13.Alastair BRAY (GK), 15.Matthew SIM, 16.Liam ROSE, 17.Francesco STELLA, 19.Josh BINGHAM, 20.Anthony KALIK, 21.Michael NEILL, 22.Jake McGING, 23.Tomislav USKOK, 25.Adam BERRY, 40.Tom HEWARD-BELLE (GK)
**two to be omitted**
Match details
Saturday 16 January 2016
Match: Central Coast Mariners vs. Adelaide United
Venue: Coopers Stadium, Adelaide
Kick-off: 5:15pm (AEDT)
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505
Radio Broadcast: 96.3 Coast FM
Twitter: Join the match conversation using #ADLvCCM & #CCMFC
