The Mariners are back home tonight, welcoming Melbourne City to Central Coast Stadium in Match Week 6 of the A-League.
For both teams it is their second outing of the Match Week, with the Mariners kicking off at 4pm in their loss to Wellington on Sunday and City playing immediately after as they fell 3-1 to Perth.
Now both teams will be looking to bounce back from those results as teams start to get their feet set in the early days of the season.
GAME DAY INFO: MASKS ARE NO LONGER MANDATORY, BUT ARE ENCOURAGED!
A 2-1 loss to Wellington felt like points dropped for the Mariners, who were in control for large swathes of the game but were unable to convert a myriad of chances, and instead were sucker punched by a late Phoenix goal that saw the points head to Wollongong.
The game saw debut minutes for Michal Janota though and he could be in line for more, while Marcos Ureña made his second appearance and Alen Stajcic will be without Josh Nisbet once more as he recovers from an ankle injury.
Lewis Miller, Stefan Jankovic and Louis Khoury have all come into the squad as well, while Jordan Smylie will miss time after suffering a knee injury in Sunday night’s game and the staff juggle playing time during a busy period.
Matt Simon will play his 200th A-League match for the Mariners when he runs out tonight, and said the team are ready for City despite the short break.
“We haven’t done much training, as you said it’s a short turnaround and we’ve had to do that a couple of times this year,” Simon said.
“So it’s been the same preparation as other games, and it’s a game we’re looking forward to.”
“Melbourne City are a big club, but I think that is when we thrive, we’re at our best when we play the big teams, and the boys are really looking forward to the game and we really want to get the three points considering that we dropped those points in the last game.”
“They’ve got some good players, but at the end of the day we have to concentrate on ourselves and the coaches will give us the game plan that they think will win the game.”
“It’s up to the players to execute that and they’re coming off a loss and have to travel, so we just have to perform well and grab the points.”
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Central Coast Mariners squad: 1. Mark BIRIGHITTI (GK), 3. Lewis MILLER, 5. Stefan NIGRO, 6. Gianni STENSNESS, 7. Stefan JANKOVIC, 8. Oliver BOZANIC ©, 10. Daniel DESILVA, 11. Jack CLISBY, 12. Marcos UREÑA, 14. Daniel BOUMAN, 15. Kye ROWLES, 19. Matt SIMON, 20. Adam PEARCE (GK), 21. Ruon TONGYIK, 22. Michal JANOTA, 23. Dan HALL, 26. Jaden CASELLA, 29. Alou KUOL, 32. Max BALARD, 33. Louis KHOURY
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 3. Lewis MILLER (Promoted), 7. Stefan JANKOVIC (Promoted), 33. Louis KHOURY (Promoted)
Outs: 30. Jordan SMYLIE (Knee – 1 week)
Unavailable: 4.Joshua NISBET (Injured – Ankle)
Melbourne City FC squad: 1.Tom GLOVER (gk), 2.Scott GALLOWAY, 3.Scott JAMIESON (c), 4.Nuno REIS, 7.Rostyn GRIFFITHS, 9.Jamie MACLAREN, 10.Florin BERENGUER-BOHRER, 11.Craig NOONE, 13.Nathaniel ATKINSON, 14.Naoki TSUBAKI, 16.Taras GOMULKA, 17.Stefan COLAKOVSKI, 18.Connor METCALFE, 19.Ben GARUCCIO, 20.Adrian LUNA, 22.Curtis GOOD, 23.Marco TILIO, 33.Matthew SUTTON (gk), 35.Raphael BORGES RODRIGUES, 36.Kerrin STOKES
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 4.Nuno REIS (completed quarantine), 7.Rostyn GRIFFITHS (returns from injury)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 15.Andrew NABBOUT (hamstring)
Match Details |
Sunday, 31 January 2021
Central Coast Mariners v Melbourne City FC
Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Kick-Off: 7:05pm (Local)(7:05pm (AEDT))
Referee: Stephen Lucas
Assistant Referee 1: Lance Greenshields
Assistant Referee 2: Brad Wright
Fourth Official: Tim Danaskos
VAR: Kris Griffiths-Jones
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 7:00pm (AEDT), 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 (1116 SEN), Coast FM 96.3
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #CCMvMCY
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Make sure you arrive early tonight for a special Simmo presentation at 6:20pm!
