Central Coast Mariners Football Manager believes Brisbane Roar will be at their most dangerous this Saturday at Suncorp Stadium, just six days after being caught on the back foot by a late Chris Greenacre equaliser, in a 1-all draw with Wellington Phoenix.
Central Coast Mariners Football Manager believes Brisbane Roar will be at their most dangerous this Saturday at Suncorp Stadium, just six days after being caught on the back foot by a late Chris Greenacre equaliser, in a 1-all draw with Wellington Phoenix.
It-s been a turbulent week for the Roar, with coach Frank Farina and teenage ace Tommy Oar both suspended after being sent off in the stalemate, and the club being criticized for perceived issues with its discipline.
McKinna believes these factors will make this Saturday-s clash extremely dangerous.
“They went off the rails a bit, but it-s still going to be a hard game,” McKinna said.
“They had a bad second half, but I-m expecting them to bounce back and show the Queensland public how good of a team they are.
“They-re very mobile, van Dijk up front does a great job to build attacks on, and I-m sure they-ll be back up for it this week after last weekend, because they were up 1-nil and in the box seat, but let it slip with five minutes to go,” said McKinna.
While the Central Coast hasn-t tasted victory over the Roar on home soil since the 2005 Pre Season Cup, their record in Brisbane makes for happier reading, with three victories in foreign territory, a statistic which pleases McKinna.
“I never knew that but I-m glad you told me that!” he said.
“The two of us just match up really well, they have always been very tight games. I don-t think there has been too many that have blown out, but they-ve always just seemed to have got the wood on us. Even last season we always seemed to be well on top and cop a goal, then they would go on with it.
“We won once up there last season then they beat us in the finals. They-re a good team, very competitive, they-re mobile, in your faces,” McKinna said.
While McKinna is wary of Saturday-s opposition, his immediate focus is in his own backyard. The Mariners defence has been the most frugal in the league along with Gold Coast United, shipping just a solitary goal in their opening three outings, and he wants that trend to continue.
“We need to keep on top of what we-ve been doing. We are really well disciplined, the only thing we need to do is keep the ball a wee bit better, as we said last weekend. We got better as the game went on whereas the week before we probably dropped off a wee bit in the second half.
“It-d be great to put a good 90 minutes in at the weekend, and three points would put pressure on Sydney and Gold Coast as well,” said McKinna.
McKinna-s traveling party holds little clues as to the way his defensive four will line up, with Nigel Boogaard, Brad Porter and Andrew Clark, all in contention for spots alongside Alex Wilkinson and Dean Heffernan.
“Boogs (Nigel Boogaard) has got a cork, he-s fine though, and Brad Porter has got a little niggle in his knee but we-re expecting him to be fine. If they-re out, so be it, we-ve got other boys who can come in and get a chance as well.
“(Chris) Doig is going to start running today, we could rush him back for next week but there is no need to rush him back. He-s come back twice too early, so we-ll be more looking at him for the game after the Canberra game, (against Adelaide at Hindmarsh Stadium)” said McKinna.
The Central Coast has once again proven doubters wrong with a strong start to Hyundai A-League 2009/10, yielding five points from its opening three matches, but McKinna thinks it could have been more.
“We-re happy with where we are at. Two of those games we drew we could have won both of them. Sydney I-ve said a draw was probably a fair result but with the circumstances at the end we deserved to win, and the Newcastle game should have been over at half time.
“We-re reasonably happy, but the good thing for us is there is a lot of room for improvement,” McKinna warned.
Hyundai A-League Head-to-Head: Played 14: Brisbane Roar wins 6, Central Coast Mariners wins 2, Drawn 6
Overall Head-to-Head: Played 19: Brisbane Roar wins 7, Central Coast Mariners wins 4, Drawn 8
Brisbane Roar squad: 1. Liam REDDY (gk), 3. Luke DEVERE, 4. Craig MOORE (c), 5. Josh McCLOUGHAN, 6. David DODD, 7. Michael ZULLO, 9. Sergio VAN DIJK, 10. Charlie MILLER, 11. REINALDO, 12. Matt MUNDY, 13. HENRIQUE, 15. Matt McKAY, 16. Bob MALCOLM, 17. Mitch NICHOLS, 18. Danny TIATTO, 20. Griffin McMASTER (gk), 24. Robbie KRUSE.
*two to be omitted*
In: Josh McCLOUGHAN (returns from injury), REINALDO (promoted)
Out: Tommy OAR (suspended – 1 week)
Unavailable: Andrew PACKER (adductor – 2/3 months), Massimo MURDOCCA (fractured leg – 3/4 months), Tommy OAR (suspended – 1 week)
Central Coast Mariners squad: 1. Andrew REDMAYNE, 4. Pedj BOJIC, 5. Brad PORTER, 7. John HUTCHINSON, 8. Dean HEFFERNAN, 9. Nik MRDJA, 11. Dylan MACALLISTER, 14. Michael McGLINCHEY, 15. Andrew CLARK, 16. Nigel BOOGAARD, 18. Alex WILKINSON (c), 19. Matt SIMON, 20. Danny VUKOVIC, 21. Ahmad ELRICH, 22. Nicky TRAVIS, 23. Adam KWASNIK
*one to be omitted*
In: Andrew CLARK (promoted)
Out: Nil
Unavailable: Chris DOIG (calf – 2 weeks), Shane HUKE (knee – 4 weeks), Adrian CACERES (hamstring – 1 week)
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Local kick-off: 3.00pm
Referee: Ben Williams
The Mariners- next home match of the Hyundai A-League 2009/10 season is Friday, 4 September. Kick-off is at 8pm at Canberra Stadium. Tickets are available online here or by phoning 132 849.
Mariners Memberships for the Hyundai A-League 2009/10 season are now available online by clicking here or by phoning 1300 767 442.
