CENTRAL Coast Mariners skipper John Hutchinson is confident that the yellow and navy can win in the west, but believes Perth’s players will keen to impress their new boss Alistair Edwards.
CENTRAL Coast Mariners skipper John Hutchinson is confident that the yellow and navy can further consolidate their place atop of the Hyundai A-League ladder and claim victory in the Round 21 clash with Perth Glory at nib Stadium on Saturday evening.
Hutchinson, who signed a new two-season contract with the Club on Thursday, says his side need to be wary of the purple-whites who will be out to impress Qantas Joeys coach and new boss Alistair Edwards in his first match in charge of the bottom-placed Glory outfit.
“It-s going to be a tough game after they got rid of (Ian Ferguson) Fergie,” Hutchinson said. “We know they will be firing for their new coach and everyone is going to be playing for positions and contracts over there. We need to be on our game and if we play the way I know we should play, we should get the three points.”
The Mariners hold a dominant record against Perth, with the purple-whites having only been victorious on three occasions in the 24 meetings between the two sides.
Hutchinson says the yellow and navy are focussed on the job at hand despite a busy schedule over the next few weeks with clashes against some of the competition-s top teams as well as the club-s first match of the 2013 AFC Champions League.
“We-ve got a big couple of weeks coming up. We-ve got Perth away, followed by Melbourne Victory (home), the Asian Champions League game (Suwon Bluewings) and then Western Sydney Wanderers (home), so we aren-t looking too far ahead,” he said.
This Round 21 encounter with Alistair Edward-s men also marks the return to the West Australian capital for Daniel McBreen, Mile Sterjovski and Trent Sainsbury who have all played for the Glory.
Central Coast Head Coach Graham Arnold has selected a 16-man squad to travel for the trip across the Nullarbor, with the addition of Anthony Caceres who has been promoted and may get another opportunity to feature for the first team.
With the likes of Shane Smeltz, Michael Thwaite and Ryo Nagai on their playing roster, Hutchinson says Central Coast will need to be watching some of the Glory-s danger men closely.
“It-s almost the same (Perth) squad that made the Grand Final last year, so they have obviously have got some good players,” he said. “We know they are very dangerous. They have Smeltz who is the all-time leading goal scorer in the A-League and he is a dangerous player, we need to keep our eye on him.
“But as always we will try to concentrate on our own game and we know if we bring our A-game we should get the points and come home very happy.”
Central Coast Mariners Squad: 1. Mathew Ryan (Gk), 2. Daniel McBreen, 3. Joshua Rose, 4. Pedj Bojic, 5. Zachary Anderson, 6. Patrick Zwaanswijk, 7. John Hutchinson (c), 9. Bernie Ibini, 14. Michael McGlinchey, 16. Trent Sainsbury, 17. Anthony Caceres, 18. Nick Montgomery, 19. Mitchell Duke, 20. Justin Pasfield (Gk), 21. Mile Sterjovski, 29. Nick Fitzgerald *one to be omitted
In: 17. Anthony Caceres (Promoted)
Out: Nil
Unavailable: 10. Adriano Pellegrino (Suspended – 1 week), 11. Oliver Bozanic (Shoulder – 1 week), 23. Adam Kwasnik (Knee – Season)
Perth Glory vs. Central Coast Mariners – Hyundai A-League Round 21
Saturday 16 February, 2013
nib Stadium, Perth
Kick-off: 6:45pm (local), 9:45pm AEST
Twitter: Join the match conversation on Twitter! The official match hash-tag is #PGvCCM
Television: LIVE on Fox Sports 1 & 1HD
Radio: LIVE on Coast FM (96.3FM locally or streamed online at www.coastfm.org.au). LIVE on selected ABC frequencies and online.
