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Preview: Wanderers v Mariners

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A crucial match for both sides. On Saturday night two teams who are determined to claim three points will face each other at Spotless Stadium. Kick-off is 5:35pm.

Having taken the lead on so many occasions this season, the Mariners are hoping to turn promising starts into a three-point performance. Twice in the last two weeks, the Mariners have hit the sheds with a lead and both times failed to claim the win.

Andrew Hoole is in goal scoring form for the Mariners having netted three strikes from distance in the club’s last two games.

The Western Sydney Wanderers head into the fixture having not won since round 7, which was against the Mariners at this venue.

A familiar face will kit up for the Wanderers in Mitch Duke, who marked his return to the A-League last Friday night with a goal within just 21 seconds of appearing. Duke provided a moment of positivity in his side’s 5-1 loss to the Newcastle Jets.

The Wanderers also welcome two key additions to their provisional squad with both Alex Baumjohann & Patrick Ziegler back from injury.

Mulvey in the media

On last week’s performance…

“It was a very good first half of football but the last time I looked, its 90 minutes in a game so we can’t get too carried away. What we need to do is take the good from what we did, which was very good in the first half. We were in their face, we were pressing high, winning balls in the front third and we were capitalizing on that. We got a couple of great goals from Andrew with the free kicks, and in all truth we could have got 2 or 3 other goals. Then the second half, we didn’t adapt to the change that Melbourne Victory made and that’s on me, it’s also on the players as well and we recognize that – we’ve worked on a few things this week. We’ve got a very good game tomorrow against Western Sydney in their backyard so we need to be ready for that.”

 

On the new recruits…

“There’s every chance that he [Jem Karakan] could make his starting debut, he’s acclimatized now, he’s been here for over 2 weeks and it always take a little bit of time. In Australia when you bring in foreign players there are complaints of the hard grounds, the atmosphere, the humidity but he’s adapted quite well as well as the Sheffield boys.

You have got to be very careful, as they’ve [Sam Graham & Stephen Mallon] only been here 6-7 days – Jem has been here a week longer and we can see the incremental improvements in Jem over two weeks and these lads are younger. They’ve trained well, but we have to be careful of their health but they came here to play football – they’ve put their hands up, they’re ready to play.”

 

On facing the Wanderers…

“There’s pride on the line for both teams, I’m sure both sets of fans will be expecting both teams give everything they’ve got and that’s what we intend to do.

They’ve got some good young players, and I’m very respectful of them. It’ll be a good tussle tomorrow, we just need to turn up and if we turn up in the same form that we were in the beginning of the game last week against Melbourne Victory then I’m sure we’ll give a very good account of ourselves.

Our form has been very, very good, and it’s not the form of a team that’s in tenth position. What we need to find is that consistency and that composure in the second half to withstand an onslaught like Melbourne Victory brought to us last week.

 

On former Mariner, Mitch Duke joining the Wanderers:

“He wears his heart on his sleeve you can see it – it meant a lot to him when he scored that goal. It will be on us to try and stop him getting that space and getting into positions where he can do that.”

Squad lists

Western Sydney Wanderers FC: 5.Brendan HAMILL, 8.Jordan O’DOHERTY, 9.Oriol RIERA, 10.Alex BAUMJOHANN, 11.Bruce KAMAU, 12.Mitchell DUKE, 13.Tass MOURDOUKOUTAS, 16.Jaushua SOTIRIO, 17.Keanu BACCUS, 18.Marc TOKICH, 20.Vedran JANJETOVIC (GK), 21.Tarek ELRICH, 24.Raul LLORENTE, 27.Kwame YEBOAH, 28.Roly BONEVACIA, 33.Tate RUSSELL, 34.Patrick ZIEGLER, 40.Nicholas SUMAN (GK)

Ins: 10.Alex BAUMJOHANN (returns from injury), 13.Tass MOURDOUKOUTAS (promoted), 34.Patrick ZIEGLER (returns from injury)

Outs: 4.Josh RISDON (injury – four weeks)

Unavailable: 19.Mark BRIDGE (injury – one week)

Central Coast Mariners squad: 1.Ben KENNEDY (gk), 2.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITS, 3.Jack CLISBY, 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, 18.Matt MILLAR, 19.Matt SIMON (c), 23.Mario SHABOW, 25.Jordan MURRAY, 28.Sam GRAHAM, 29.Stephen MALLON, 68.Jem KARACAN
**two to be omitted**

Ins: 23.Mario SHABOW (return from injury), 28.Sam GRAHAM (new signing), 29.Stephen MALLON (new signing)

Outs: 22.Jacob MELLING (suspended – 1 week – accumulation of yellow cards)

Unavailable: 21.Corey GAMEIRO (calf) & 4.Jake McGING (hamstring)

Opta Stat Attack

  • The Western Sydney Wanderers have won their last three fixtures against the Mariners and will be aiming for their fourth consecutive win over the Mariners for the first time.
  • The Wanderers’ last game against the Mariners at Spotless Stadium saw them record their first win here against the Mariners.
  • The Wanderers are aiming for back-to-back wins at Spotless Stadium for the first time since October 2017. Incidentally, their last game at Spotless Stadium was against the Mariners
  • Despite leading in three of their last four away games, the Mariners have lost their last eight games away from home, their worst losing streak on the road in the A-League.
  • The Wanderers and Mariners have each conceded seven goals from headers, the most of any sides in the A-League
  • The Wanderers have managed 91 shots on target this season, only Melbourne Victory have managed more (96).
  • Andrew Hoole has scored all three Mariners goals in their last two A-League games with two coming from set pieces
  • Brendan Hamill has made 94 clearances this season, the most of any player and 30 more than the Wanderers next (Elrich – 64).

Match Details
Saturday, 9 February 2019
Match: Western Sydney Wanderers vs. Central Coast Mariners
Venue: Spotless Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park
Kick-off: 5:35pm (AEDT)
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA
Hash-tag: Join the match conversation using #WSWvCCM & #CCMFC

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