FORMER Gold Coast United midfielder Daniel Bragg says the yellow and navy are confident ahead of tomorrow’s Round 2 National Youth League (NYL) clash with Melbourne Heart.
Daniel Bragg starred in Central Coast Youth’s round 1 meeting with Newcastle Jets Youth. Picture by John Dewberry
FORMER Gold Coast United midfielder Daniel Bragg says the yellow and navy are confident ahead of tomorrow-s Round 2 National Youth League (NYL) clash with Melbourne Heart.
“The boys are ready for tomorrow,” Bragg said. “The boys were talking about the opposition yesterday at training. We-re all very keen and ready to go.”
The 20-year-old played a pivotal role in Central Coast-s opening NYL match last Sunday against the Newcastle Jets, with the home side securing a 2-1 win over their northern foes.
“The first win is always a good one. It was the Derby, but we put that to the side and thought to ourselves we have to get our first win and the boys did a really good job,” he said.
The promising youngster spoke of his experiences since linking up with the junior Mariners.
“It-s been great, it-s been somewhat of a new beginning,” he said. “I-ve known a lot of the boys through football teams, school and playing against each other, so it hasn-t taken long to fit in. I-m really enjoying it.”
Bragg also expressed his thoughts on his new mentor, Central Coast NYL Head Coach John McLafferty.
“He-s all about football and expressing our talent on the field. He-s given us that freedom and the license to play, which is good especially at a young age. The gaffer is fantastic and is always talking to players, treating us like one of his own sons. John is a good influence to all of the boys here,” he said.
The skilful midfielder is pleased with his team-s start to the campaign and holds high expectations for the junior yellow and navy come season-s end.
“To be honest, we-re fantastic at the moment. Things couldn-t be going any better. It-s obviously still early days though. We have a very strong squad with a lot of talent, and I don-t see why we couldn-t win the league again and make it back-to-back.”
Melbourne Heart Youth also started the new campaign in fine fashion – they claimed a 2-0 victory over Western Sydney Wanderers Youth last weekend.
Central Coast Youth play Melbourne Heart Youth on Saturday 27 October at John Cain Memorial Park in Thornbury, Victoria.
Live match updates will be available on the Central Coast Mariners Twitter account (www.twitter.com/CCMariners). A full match report will also be available on www.ccmariners.com.au Saturday night.
