Central Coast Mariners guest player and goalkeeper Mark Bosnich has been impressive and steadily improving for his new club since making his Hyundai A-League debut last month, but is yet to taste Hyundai A-League success at Bluetongue Stadium.
Central Coast Mariners guest player and goalkeeper Mark Bosnich has been impressive and steadily improving for his new club since making his Hyundai A-League debut last month, but is yet to taste Hyundai A-League success at Bluetongue Stadium.
On Friday, Bosnich gets another chance to impress at the Mariners- idyllic bayside home when facing the Perth Glory, who having last week registered their first Hyundai A-League triumph of the new season will perhaps provide the Qantas Socceroo icon with his toughest test yet.
It isn-t accidental that the Mariners- triple treat of convincing performances has coincided with Bosnich-s cameo appearances – the former Manchester United, Chelsea and Aston Villa shot stopper making his presence felt in front of goal and also in an organisational sense at the back.
Next up for Bosnich is the Glory and their cast of former and current Socceroos, many of which have played alongside or against Bosnich in the past.
“It-s going to be a very tough game, I-ve looked forward to every game that I-ve had here and this one will be no different,” said Bosnich.
“David Mitchell was an ex-team-mate of mine and I know he-ll have them primed and ready for an optimum performance and of course they won last week.
“We-ve got to be ready, we-ve got to be sharp in our heads and our minds and also we-ve got to be sharp with our feet.”
Bosnich will come up against former Socceroos team-mate and Perth Glory coach David Mitchell, who first played alongside Bosnich in an ‘A- international when Australia recorded a famous 1-1 FIFA World Cup qualifying draw against Argentina at the Sydney Football Stadium in October 1993.
During Bosnich-s most prolific era with the national team, Glory custodians Frank Juric and Jason Petkovic were also regularly involved in Qantas Socceroo fixtures, with Bosnich and Petkovic one of three goalkeepers selected for Australia-s first and second stages of FIFA World Cup qualifiers in 1997.
One of Bosnich-s last appearances in Australia before joining the Mariners recently was for former club Manchester United against a Socceroos selection featuring Glory pair Petkovic and Hayden Foxe at ANZ Stadium in July 1999 – a match won 1-0 by the visiting Red Devils.
“OK, we haven-t won in the past two weeks but we haven-t lost either and at the end of the day we played the top team in the Hyundai A-League on Saturday night in Melbourne and we put a fantastic performance in,” said Bosnich.
“That-s history now, the boys will learn from it and get stronger from it – the feeling that we had after the game was not a nice one, but as I and the Manager told them, store that away in the vault and remember that for next time that you-re winning with a couple of seconds to go.”
The Mariners are back at Bluetongue Stadium on Friday, 26 September, when they continue their Hyundai A-League 2008/09 campaign against the Perth Glory in Round 6. Kick off is at 8pm.
The Mariners- National Youth League team will make its first appearance in the new elite competition for Australia-s best young players before the main game, also against the Perth Glory. Kick off is at 5.15pm.
Tickets for this match are on sale from Ticketek outlets, from the Ticketek website – www.ticketek.com.au, or via phone on 132 849.
Mariners Memberships for the Hyundai A-League 2008/09 season are now on sale at www.ccmariners.com.au.
