The Mariners are in action on Tuesday night at Central Coast Stadium, taking on Newcastle Jets in another edition of the #F3Derby and seeking to secure their spot in the A-League finals.
Alen Stajcic’s men put themselves in a strong position with last Thursday’s win against Macarthur, and now have the chance to capitalize on it with two matches at home to finish the season, beginning with their traditional rivals.
A win or draw on Tuesday would put the Mariners out of reach of the teams below sixth, confirming a spot in the finals, however on Monday Stajcic stressed that the match would be a big test for his side.
“It’s obviously a tough year for them, and they’ve got into a little bit of a rut in terms of not being able to secure results,” he said of Tuesday’s opponents.
? “It’s obviously a huge game for us, another derby at home, we want to put on a great performance for the fans.” #CCMFC #WontBackDown #F3Derby
Simmo ??— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) May 31, 2021
“But their performances haven’t been too bad. They have played some good football, and maybe just lost key parts of matches rather than whole matches, that’s probably what’s let them down.
“I don’t think their position on the ladder reflects how good they actually are and how good they can be, so they’re definitely not a team we’re going to underestimate, they’ve got a lot of quality, a lot of experience and on the night they can turn it on.”
The Jets will be without Luka Prso, Connor O’Toole and Ramy Najjarine after they were called into Olyroos camp, with a number of players added to the squad for Tuesday’s outing.
Staj mentioned on Monday that the only concern for the Mariners was the fitness of Daniel DeSilva, who was set to train on Monday before a decision would be made on him for the derby.
With only a point required to seal finals the Mariners are ever so close, however Staj was adamant that after Thursday’s win over Macarthur there was no room for taking the foot off the gas.
“I thought we played well, I thought we played well the week before that too against Melbourne City,” he said when asked of the performance.
“It’s a good sign that we’re coming back into a little bit better form towards the back end of the year and heading into finals.”
“It’s still mathematically possible for teams to catch us so we’re not going to rest on our laurels and we know how hard the task is to ensure we finish as high up the ladder as we can.”
“[We have] two home games to finish the comp so Tuesday night is extremely important, Saturday is as well against western united and we definitely want to get more momentum heading into finals.”
“It is a great occasion for the club, and to be able to lift ourselves off the floor that we have been on for 5 or 6 years, and drag ourselves off that canvas and be on our feet challenging towards the end of the year.
“I know how happy it has made the community and the football community around here but we know that’s only half the job.”
“We’ve got a job to finish, we’ve worked extremely hard to put ourselves in this position so it’s really important that we finish the job off and capitalize on this opportunity to ensure we get ourselves into the grand final to win it.”
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Squads |
Central Coast Mariners squad: 1.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk), 3.Lewis MILLER, 4.Joshua NISBET, 5.Stefan NIGRO, 6.Gianni STENSNESS, 8.Oliver BOZANIC (c), 10.Daniel DESVILA, 11.Jack CLISBY, 12.Marco UREÑA,14.Daniel BOUMAN, 15.Kye ROWLES, 19.Matt SIMON, 20.Adam PEARCE (gk), 22.Michal JANOTA, 23.Dan HALL, 25.Matt HATCH, 26.Jaden CASELLA, 29.Alou KUOL, 30.Jordan SMYLIE, 32.Max BALARD
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 22.Michal JANOTA (Promoted), 25.Matt HATCH (Promoted), 32.Max BALARD (Promoted)
Out: 21.Ruon TONGYIK (International Duty)
Unavailable: Nil
Newcastle Jets squad: 1.Lewis ITALIANO (gk), 2.Johnny KOUTROUMBIS, 3.Jason HOFFMAN, 4.Nigel BOOGAARD (c), 7 Jordan O’DOHERTY, 9.Roy O’DONOVAN, 14.Ali ABBAS, 16. Matt MILLAR, 17.Valentino YUEL, 19. Kosta PETRATOS, 22. Lachlan JACKSON, 23.Jack DUNCAN (gk), 27. Lucas MAURAGIS, 32.Angus THURGATE, 33. Apostolos STAMATELOPOULOS, 44.Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 28. Blake ARCHBOLD, 26. Archie GOODWIN, 25.Jack SIMMONS, 18.Jack ARMSON
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 19. Kosta PETRATOS (promoted), 33. Apostolos STAMATELOPOULOS (promoted), 28. Blake ARCHBOLD (promoted), 25.Jack SIMMONS (promoted), 18.Jack ARMSON (promoted)
Outs: 21.Luka PRŠO (International Duty), 24.Connor O’TOOLE (International Duty), 11.Ramy NAJJARINE (International Duty)
Unavailable: 5.Ben KANTAROVKSI (calf – season), 15.Tete YENGI (Foot – 1-2 weeks), 20. Syahrian ABIMANYU (National duty), 8. Liridon Krasniqi (International Duty),
Game Details |
Tuesday, 1 June 2021
Central Coast Mariners v Newcastle Jets
Central Coast Stadium
Kick-Off: 7:05pm (Local)(7:05pm (AEST))
Referee: Stephen Lucas
Assistant Referee 1: James Cleal
Assistant Referee 2: Andrej Giev
Fourth Official: Ben Abraham
VAR: Kurt Ams
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 7:00pm (AEST), Sky Sport 7 (New Zealand) , Kayo Sports (www.kayosports.com.au) and MyFootball Live App, Live Fast and Data Free for Telstra mobile customers
Radio Broadcast: myfootballnation.com (SEN Track Central Coast 801am), Coast FM 96.3
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #F3Derby
