The Mariners travelled to Adelaide on Thursday, with a big clash against Adelaide United ahead at Coopers Stadium tonight.
Alen Stajcic’s men are looking to snap a four-match losing streak that continued in the #F3Derby loss last Sunday, and Staj admitted that the side will be bouncing back from a performance that ‘wasn’t up to standard’.
Travel time. ?✈️#CCMFC #ADLvCCM pic.twitter.com/pzDCljkazl
— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) February 13, 2020
“We were all very disappointed last week, the performance probably wasn’t up to the levels that we’ve been playing at the previous weeks,” he said.
“We didn’t have the same intensity that we’ve had in other games, with and without the ball, and we gave Newcastle the momentum of the match.”
Chris Harold was a positive for the Mariners as he marked his debut with a delightful curling strike after coming on in the second half, and he is in line again this week although the boss would not be drawn on his role against the Reds.
“Chris had a fantastic debut, you talk about positives, he was a positive,” he said.
“He came on and he changed the game and changed the momentum of the game which is impressive, as did Abraham [Majok].”
“It’s unfortunate that Abraham is out for this game, but I thought both of them showed a bit of spark and energy and turned Newcastle around a number of times.
“He got a goal which was a good reward and a world class finish, but his performance, even aside from the goal, was a good one.”
Matt Simon and Majok will both miss this match after picking up injuries in the derby, and Tommy Oar will miss consecutive games too having sat out the loss in Newcastle.
The Mariners and Adelaide have already faced off three times in recent months, twice in the league and once in the semi-finals of the FFA Cup.
The Reds won the first two, but the last time they met the Mariners put in a convincing shift at Central Coast Stadium to win 2-1 and Stajcic admitted it will be a tough contest.
“They’re probably one of the most attacking teams in the competition, and cause the most threat,” he said on Thursday.
“It’s going to be a challenge for us, especially playing over there in Adelaide, but if we show all the good qualities that we’ve shown in the past five weeks, probably barring last week, we are going to put up a very good match against them and be competitive.”
Squads |
Adelaide United squad: 5.Michaël MARIA, 6.Stefan MAUK, 8.Riley McGREE, 11.Kristian OPSETH, 14.George BLACKWOOD 17.Nikola MILEUSNIĆ, 18.Lachlan BROOK, 20.Paul IZZO (gk), 22.Michael JAKOBSEN (c), 23.Jordan ELSEY, 26.Ben HALLORAN, 27.Louis D’ARRIGO, 31.Mirko BOLAND, 34.Yared ABETEW, 36.Noah SMITH, 40.Dakota OCHSENHAM (gk), 49.Mohamed TOURE
**0-1 to be omitted**
Ins: 14.George BLACKWOOD (returns from injury), 34.Yared ABETEW (promoted), 36.Noah SMITH (promoted)
Outs: 4.Ryan STRAIN (hamstring), 7.Ryan KITTO (quad)
Unavailable: 2.Michael MARRONE (abdominal), 10.James TROISI (quad), 16.Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS (knee),24.Pacifique NIYONGABIRE (adductor), 35.Al Hassan TOURE (foot)
Central Coast Mariners squad: 1.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk), 2.Ian Zygmunt GORDON, 3.Jack CLISBY, 4.Eunsun KIM, 7.Milan ÐURIĆ, 8.Michael MCGLINCHEY, 9.Jordan MURRAY, 11.Daniel DESILVA, 12.Adam PEARCE (gk), 15.Kye ROWLES, 16.Dylan FOX, 17.Sam SILVERA, 18.Gianni STENSNESS, 21.Ruon TONGYIK, 23.Mario SHABOW, 24.Chris HAROLD, 27.Lewis MILLER, 29.Jair BRITTO, 30 Dylan RUIZ-DIAZ
**1-3 to be omitted**
Ins: 9.Jordan MURRAY (Promoted), 16.Dylan FOX (Return from Injury), 23.Mario SHABOW (Promoted), 26.Joshua NISBET (Promoted)
Outs: 14.Abraham MAJOK (injury), 19.Matt SIMON (Injury)
Unavailable: 10.Tommy Oar (Injury)
Match Details |
Friday, 14th February
Coopers Stadium, Adelaide
Kick-off: 7:00pm (Local), 7:30pm (AEDT)
Referee: Adam Kersey
Assistant Referee 1: Matthew Cream
Assistant Referee 2: Paul Centrangolo
Fourth Official: Daniel Cook
VAR: Kris Griffiths-Jones
Broadcast: Fox Sports 505
Stream: Kayo Sports, MyFootball Live App
Radio: myfootballnation.com (5AA, Coast FM (Gosford), Super Radio Network, SEN2). ABC Adelaide, ABC South Australia, Grandstand Digital and online
