Central Coast Mariners are back at Our Paradise for Round Three of the Isuzu UTE A-League, taking on Perth Glory in the second instalment of Saturday’s huge double header.
Mark Jackson’s team kick-off at 5pm, following our Ninja A-League side’s season opener against Sydney FC at 2:15.
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Form:
The Mariners come into the game with two draws from our first two A-League fixtures. Jacko has had a rare full-week lead in to a match after returning from Adelaide, where Sabit Ngor’s first A-League goal earned us a point against the Reds.
Speaking after the match, Jacko said he was pleased with elements of the second half performance in Adelaide but says his team are not up to the desired standards and will be ‘looking to be much better’ this weekend against Perth.
Mark Jackson: “We’ll be looking to be much better”
As will David Zdrillic and his side, who have had a nightmare start, sitting bottom of the Isuzu UTE A-League ladder after two rounds and seemingly carrying over the form that saw them concede 23 goals in their last four A-League matches in 23/24.
Glory had shown some promising signs in pre-season, beginning with a 4-2 win over Brisbane Roar in their Australia Cup play-off before beating Melbourne City in a 5-4 thriller in the Round of 32, before exiting to NPL Queensland side Moreton Excelsior.
Perth then finished pre-season with a win over Newcastle Jets, but have begun their A-League campaign with a disastrous 6-1 defeat to Macarthur and a 2-0 home defeat to Wellington Phoenix.
Perth’s one to watch and transfer business:
Adam Taggart is still the one to watch for Perth, the 31-year-old won the Golden Boot last season despite his team’s struggles. The Glory captain will be expected to carry the goalscoring burden again and will be looking to open his 24/25 account at Our Paradise on Saturday. He scored in both meetings with the Mariners last season.
Zdrillic has a completely new-look squad at his disposal and is yet to find the right balance between providing Taggart with service and threatening in attack, and protecting a new-look backline.
Perth’s transfer activity saw 14 new signings (more than any A-League side barring Auckland) and 13 departures (only Macarthur had more first team departures – 14)
Ins: Josh Risdon, Brandon O’Neill, Andriano Lebib (first scholarship contract), Khoa Ngo (first scholarship contract), Zach Lisolajski, Anas Hamzaoui, Nathanael Blair, Nicholas Pennington, Taras Gomulka, Will Freney (first scholarship contract), Adam Bugarija, Abdelelah Faisal, Lachlan Barr, Hiroaki Aoyama, Nikola Mileusnic, Luis Cangá, Cristian Caicedo
Outs: Daniel Bennie (Queens Park Rangers) Darryl Lachman, Mark Beevers, Aleksandar Susnjar, Bruce Kamau, Antonis Martis, Jayden Gorman, Stefan Colakovski, Salim Khelifi, John Koutroumbis, Josh Rawlins, Adam Zimarino
Re-signings: David Williams, Trent Ostler, Kaelan Majekodunmi, Jarrod Carluccio, Riley Warland, Jaylan Pearman, Joel Anasmo
23/24 meetings and H2H history:
The two sides met in Round Three last season, with Perth coming out on top on that occasion. The Mariners ended 2023 with a 4-2 home win over Glory on New Years Eve, Marco Tulio bagging a brace in his final appearance in Gosford, with goals also coming from Jacob Farrell and Alou Kuol.
The Mariners have the better of Perth in the Head to Head record, winning 23 out of 50 A-League meetings, with 10 draws and 17 wins for Perth.
