CENTRAL Coast Mariners young gun Zac Anderson spoke to media after training on Friday, looking ahead to Saturday’s Round 9 Hyundai A-League top-of-the-clash with Adelaide United.
CENTRAL Coast Mariners young gun Zac Anderson spoke to media after training on Friday, looking ahead to Saturday’s Round 9 Hyundai A-League top-of-the-clash with Adelaide United.
It was an historic win last Sunday, a fantastic game and a great opportunity for you. What did you make of it?
It was a fantastic day. The boys played really well, it was a really nice opportunity for myself to get 90 minutes and it was a fantastic result.
You played alongside another young gun Trent Sainsbury and it looked like you guys had played together for years. What was it like working with him?
Trent-s had a fantastic start to the season and he-s doing really well. He played well on the weekend and apart from Trent, I think all of the players did their job on the weekend to make our jobs easier as well.
You just finished training, it-s very warm today and expected to be even hotter tomorrow. Tell us how you are feeling now and how you are going to recover.
Obviously the conditions are going to be tough but both teams have to play in them. We-re looking forward to a result even if it is 40 degrees. We need the three points. We-ve had a few great results at home and we are looking to push on.
You made your senior starting debut against Adelaide. You must have great respect for this football team who sit top of the table at the moment?
Adelaide are doing really well. They-ve got a great bunch of boys and a fantastic playing group. We-re going to have to be on our game tomorrow to beat them. They are on top of the table, they-ve got a few threats that we-ll have to nullify but we are confident going to the game after last week.
Adelaide will be missing a couple of key players tomorrow with Eugene Galekovic with the Qantas Socceroos and Dario Vidosic injured. Who do you think are the danger men that will line up for them tomorrow?
They-ve got heaps of danger men up front. I-m not sure who is starting yet, but the likes of Bruce Djite, a former Gold Coast player who I-ve played with before. They have a few goal scorers like Jeronimo (Neumann) who has scored some great goals this year, so we-re going to have to be on our game. We-ve worked on a few things during the week, we-re going to have to make sure that they don-t get in behind us and cause us threats.
What are your thoughts on Jeronimo? Obviously a great import?
He-s been fantastic. Obviously that-s what the league needs, these boys coming out from overseas who do make an impact on the league and hopefully tomorrow it is not his day.
The Reds have conceded five goals in eight games and it looks like it-s shaping up to be a tight contest?
Absolutely. With the heat as well, we-re going to have to take our opportunities and our chances and obviously not let them have too many. It-s going to be a tough game, just like last week against Brisbane Roar. At times we will have to stand firm and grind it out. Hopefully at the end of the 90 minutes, we get the result.
How are you enjoying wearing the yellow and navy?
It-s fantastic! I-m really enjoying my time here. The boys have welcomed me into the squad, I feel a part of it now and I-m looking forward to playing a few more games.
Finally, what-s it been like working with Patrick Zwaanswijk, one of the best imports ever to come here? You-re obviously learning a lot from him?
It was one of the reasons why I came to the club apart from Graham Arnold. To learn off a player like Patrick Zwaanswijk has been fantastic. He-s not just a player for me, he-s one of those players who you can learn so much from on and off the pitch. He-s a player that I will continue to learn from and hopefully improve as a footballer during my time here.
