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Preview: Mariners v Brisbane

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Up against a short turnaround, the Central Coast Mariners will be looking to generate momentum from Wednesday’s win into back-to-back results when Brisbane Roar visit Central Coast Stadium.

After Friday’s training session, Head Coach Mike Mulvey spoke with media about the importance of earning their second consecutive win.

On Wednesday evening Matt Simon fired home in the 89th minute to earn his side a crucial three points, whilst Brisbane Roar were on the end of a 5-0 thrashing from Melbourne Victory.

The Mariners welcome Kye Rowles back into their provisional squad who missed his first game of the season through suspension. Brisbane have the option to add experience to their playing stocks with Matt McKay, Jack Hingert, Tobias Mikkelsen and Jacob Pepper all missing against Melbourne Victory.

Mulvey in the media (CLICK HERE to watch Mike Mulvey’s press conference)

Big game on Sunday…
“That’s the focus. We’ve won a game which is fantastic, the players really put in, particularly in the last three games and it’s the upward curve. So, I’m expecting us to have a strong performance on Sunday as well.

Influence of the skipper, Matty Simon…
“Matt is a driving force, we brought him back to this club to provide leadership on-field as well as off-field and you know you’ve got to have a good pair to be able to get up and take a penalty in the last couple of minutes and he did that and all power to him, great.

Tom Hiariej’s return…
“Yeah I think that you look at Tommy H and Tommy Oar as well, they’ve had an injury plagued season. The offseason or the pre-season was not as you would have hoped and it’s meant that we’ve had to bide our time with getting them onto the field. But, you saw the performances from both guys, again I’m not really one for singling out individuals but, those two put in great shifts in the last two games.

Your message to the players…  
“The main message that we need to get out of that game is that we won a game, now we need to go do it again. We need to prove to ourselves that we have got that bit between the teeth, we got to go on with it because otherwise what’s the point? All through the last eight or ten weeks we’ve been talking about believing and keep persevering, perseverance is a very, very strong thing to have in your armour and we’ve shown that in spades.

“The lads have persevered and now we’ve had a bit of a kill in terms of winning a game and getting three points now we need to prove we can go on and do it again. So, we need to be in their face very early on, in the game on Sunday and nothing less than that performance that we showed against Sydney and then against Wellington and then against Melbourne City, nothing else is acceptable.

“We need to be right on our game to make sure we keep that momentum going. I’m very confident that the lads will be up for the game, absolutely confident about that. It’s just about managing the recovery between the last game and the next game because in January games comes thick and fast.

“We won the game late and there was a lot of excitement in the stadium, the fans were fantastic and I urge the fans again to come and really get behind the team on Sunday in the same way they did against Melbourne City,” Mulvey said.

Squad lists

Central Coast Mariners squad: 1.Ben KENNEDY (gk), 2.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITS, 3.Jack CLISBY, 4.Jake McGING, 6.Tom HIARIEJ, 7.Andrew HOOLE, 8.Michael McGLINCHEY, 10.Tommy OAR, 11.Connor PAIN, 12.Adam PEARCE (gk), 13.Aiden O’NEILL, 15.Kye ROWLES, 16.Josh MACDONALD, 18.Matt MILLAR, 19.Matt SIMON (c), 22.Jacob MELLING, 23.Mario SHABOW, 25.Jordan MURRAY

**two to be omitted**

Ins: 15.Kye ROWLES (return from suspension), 16.Josh MACDONALD (promoted)

Outs: nil
Unavailable: 21.Corey GAMEIRO (calf)

Brisbane Roar FC squad: 1.Brendan WHITE (gk), 2.Dane INGHAM, 3.Luke DEVERE, 4.Daniel BOWLES, 7.Thomas KRISTENSEN, 8.Jacob PEPPER, 9.Adam TAGGART, 11.Eric BAUTHEAC, 14.Alex LOPEZ, 17.Matt MCKAY (c), 18.Joe CALETTI, 19.Jack HINGERT, 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk), 22.Tobias MIKKELSEN, 23.Dylan WENZEL-HALLS, 24.Connor O’TOOLE, 26.Nick D’AGOSTINO, 33.HENRIQUE **two to be omitted**

Ins: 8.Jacob PEPPER (promoted), 17.Matt MCKAY (promoted), 19.Jack HINGERT (returns from injury), 22.Tobias MIKKELSEN (promoted)
Outs: 15.Stefan NIGRO (not selected), 34.Aaron Reardon (not selected)
Unavailable: 6.Avram PAPADOPOULOS (glute),10.Brett HOLMAN (knee), 13.Stefan MAUK (groin)
Opta Stat Attack

  • Brisbane Roar are undefeated in their last 13 A-League games against the Central Coast Mariners. Our last win over the Roar was in April 2014
  • Brisbane have won their last five visits to Central Coast Stadium.
  • The Mariners have led at half time in each of their last three games, going on to pick up a win in their last fixture: the last time they won back-to-back games was in December 2017
  • Brisbane have conceded on average 2.2 goals per game this season, their most ever in a single campaign and significantly more than their previous highest (1.6 in 2014/15)
  • The Mariners have conceded more goals than any other team in the second half of games this season, whilst Roar have conceded more goals than any other team in the first half of games this season
  • Roar (15.8) and Mariners (15.3) have conceded more fouls than any other team this season.
  • Kye Rowles has made 31 interceptions this campaign, the second most of any player this season.
  • Adam Taggart has landed 22 shots on target this campaign, the equal most of any player in the competition alongside Oriel Riera.

Match Details
Sunday, 20 January 2019
Match: Central Coast Mariners vs. Brisbane Roar FC
Venue: Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Kick-off: 7:00pm (AEDT)
Tickets: CLICK HERE
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA
Hash-tag: Join the match conversation using #CCMvBRI & #CCMFC

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