Central Coast Mariners are looking to bounce back to winning ways in the Isuzu UTE A-League, as Western Sydney Wanderers visit Industree Group Stadium.
After suffering their first defeat since November last Saturday against Wanderers’ city rivals Sydney FC, Mark Jackson has already seen a positive response from his side as they romped to a 4-0 win in the AFC Cup on Tuesday against Phnom Penh Crown.
Ryan Edmondson got off the mark for the Mariners in style with a second half hat-trick, and he will be keen to take that scoring form into the Sunday’s clash with Wanderers and net his first Isuzu UTE A-League goal. Jing Reec was also on target, his fourth of the season.
READ MORE: Reec loving life back on the Coast as Mariners prepare for Wanderers
🗞 Team news
Wanderers are without four first team players through suspension. Hendrix and Russell’s red cards both see them serve a one-match suspension. They join Aiden Simmons and Thomas Beadling on the suspension list.
Rudan’s team have also had somewhat of a goalkeeper crisis in recent weeks too. Lawrence Thomas featured against Macarthur before being pictured in the crowd wearing a protective boot for the game against Newcastle.
Second-choice stopper Jack Gibson remains sidelined with an ACL injury sustained in the warm-up when we faced Wanderers at Commbank in January.
Daniel Margush stepped in that day, he also was missing last week against the Jets with concussion, meaning there was a senior debut for 18-year-old Taiga Harper.
The Mariners have no fresh absentees, but are still without Brad Tapp, Harry Steele and Noah Smith.
⏮ Previous Meetings
The Central Coast Mariners and Western Sydney Wanderers have played once so far this season, taking place during the first weekend of 2024 at CommBank Stadium.
Marco Tulio’s wonder strike from outside the penalty area in his final game for the club was enough to earn us a hard fought three points, backed by an incredible group of travelling Central Coast supporters.
Last season’s three match ups saw both clubs come away with one win, as well as a solo draw. The Mariners kicked off the trio of games with a dominant 3-0 win during the early park of the season away, before Western Sydney secured a 2-0 victory in our final matchup of the campaign.
Sitting in between those two games was the last time that the two sides met at Industree Group Stadium. The match would ultimately end 2-all, with Sammy Silvera opening the scoring from long range in the opening quarter of the match.
Goals from Western Sydney on either side of the break saw them take the advantage, before some smart work from Jason Cummings deflected in a Nectar Triantis shot to level the scores. Christian Theoharous almost had a stoppage time winner, with his effort rattling off the crossbar, but it wasn’t to be.
🌟 Players to Watch
After joining Western Sydney Wanderers in the off-season from Brentford, Lachlan Brook immediately made his presence known with a stunning five-goal match in the Australia Cup.
Following this the youngster had a slow start to the campaign, but he has certainly come alive over the past few games.
Five goals in his last three Isuzu UTE A-League matches has seen him become one of the most inform players in the competition, backing up his brace away to Macarthur with another double at home against the Jets last weekend.
The Mariners will need to keep the 23-year-old quiet this afternoon in the hunt for the three points.
Former Leeds United striker Ryan Edmondson officially announced himself to the Mariners faithful on Tuesday night, scoring three goals off the bench to secure us safe passage to the AFC Cup Zonal Semi Finals.
Speed, strength and determination from the 22-year-old saw him presented with three goalscoring opportunities in the midweek match, with him making zero mistakes to grab his hat-trick.
A danger whether starting or coming off the bench, the Wanderers will need to pay close attention to the Englishman if they want to take anything out of the match.
