Mariners head coach Nick Montgomery is pleased with the three points from last weekend and is looking to keep the momentum going as we host Adelaide United in our final home game until the end of the month.
Montgomery understands how vital it is to pick up points at home, especially with the tight nature of the Isuzu UTE A-League men’s competition.
“It is crucial that we capitalise on every home game. We know that we have a good record here in the last 12 or 18 months since I took the job,” he said.
“It is vitally important that you get as many points as possible from home games and try and pick them up when you are away. Nothing changes for us; we go and try to win the game and that is no different this weekend against Adelaide.”
Our head coach is proud of the teams performance on the weekend, especially after the tough conditions we faced against Melbourne City. Temperatures reached the high thirties in Melbourne, with the match delayed due to the heat along with multiple drinks breaks taking place.
“We needed that win; it is always a good thing to get momentum going. You look back to last week, that game in Melbourne, a few of the boys were affected by the extreme heat. We had to travel back the day after, as I said on the weekend it is a massive credit to the boys,” he said.
“The likes of Jason who was pretty sick and scored a couple of goals, could have had another if it wasn’t for VAR. It is good to freshen the team up, get a few boys back from injury as well, we are going to be pretty strong this weekend with everyone fighting to get in the squad.”
Heading into this weekend, Montgomery knows the dangers that Adelaide United possess, especially Socceroo Craig Goodwin. The winger has looked back to his best since returning from Qatar, helping the away side to a 2-0 victory over Perth Glory on Monday.
It isn’t just Goodwin who Montgomery is wary of, however our coach is confident that we can get the job done this weekend.
“We will take the game to the opposition but also respect them. They are a good team with some good players, obviously Craig Goodwin is a big danger man for them, as he always is,” he said.
“Not only him, but they also have lots of good players and we will prepare for them like we do our opposition every week. We will look at their strengths and weaknesses, see how we can exploit them and most importantly focus on ourselves.”
Montgomery is excited for another home game, after what was a massive crowd last weekend. Over 10,000 Mariners fans filled the stands of Industree Group Stadium, something that our head coach believes gave the side a serious boost.
“It is vitally important that we come out strong this weekend, it is another home game and the crowd on the weekend were superb. Hopefully there is still that festive feeling on Saturday because over 10,000 against Victory was amazing, we had a really good time,” he said.
“There is a real push to get the fans back this weekend because they do help, and I thought they were outstanding. We know that if we concentrate and defend like we can, we can get the points against anyone. We won’t be taking anyone lightly, especially Adelaide.”
The Mariners head coach also gave an update on Moresche’s injury, after the Brazilian injured his ACL at the back end of last season.
“Moresche is going well, he is obviously at the stage where he is looking to get back into full training. The reality is that he has had a bad injury, we won’t rush him. He is a special player, and we need to make sure that he is 100% right before he comes into full contact,” Montgomery said.
“Then he has to get a few games under his belt. We are not putting any pressure on him about when he should be back. I think it will be a few months before he is back and hopefully that will be good timing for us, but it is a sort of week by week and month by month process. He has a massive career ahead of him, so we won’t rush him.”
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