Central Coast Mariners goalkeeper Danny Vukovic is in line to become the third Mariners player to register 80 competitive appearances in Mariners colours when the yellow and navy travel to Perth’s Members Equity Stadium on Saturday.
Central Coast Mariners goalkeeper Danny Vukovic is in line to become the third Mariners player to register 80 competitive appearances in Mariners colours when the yellow and navy travel to Perth-s Members Equity Stadium on Saturday.
Vukovic has had an interrupted start to season four by virtue of the five-match suspension he served between Round 3 and Round 7, but has returned to his best form over the past month.
“It-s great to be back, it was tough not being able to play and watching from the sidelines wasn-t easy, but it-s good to be out there, helping my team-mates and playing in the games,” said Vukovic.
“I-m just very much looking forward to the rest of this season and hopefully we can go one better than last season.
“It-s a very tight competition and teams can take points off any other team, we just need to concentrate on ourselves and hopefully put a few back-to-back wins together and if we can do that, I-m sure we can challenge for top spot.”
One of the outstanding young players to have been unearthed by the Hyundai A-League, Vukovic has registered more appearances in the Hyundai A-League (67) than any other player of his age, save for Sydney FC-s Stuart Musialik who has made 68 appearances across two clubs since season one.
The 23-year-old has kept 25 clean sheets in all matches over four seasons, including 22 in the Hyundai A-League – a record that ranks the fringe Qantas Socceroo third amongst his shot stopping peers in the Hyundai A-League.
Despite being defensively sound, the Mariners- clean sheet record thus far in season four has not made for as pleasing reading as it did in season three, where the yellow and navy had kept five clean sheets at the corresponding stage of the season.
“It-s a big game against Perth this Saturday night, hopefully we can get another three points and cement ourselves in the top four,” said Vukovic.
“It-s not going to be easy, they-re a very physical side and they-ve got a bit of pace up front in Rukavytsya, we-re going to have to be on our game as always and being away from home is not going to be easy.
“We-re always confident though, every game that we go into and we-re hopeful of coming away with the three points.”
The Mariners- Hyundai A-League campaign continues on Saturday, 29 November when they travel to Members Equity Stadium to face the Perth Glory. Kick off is at 8pm AEDT.
The Mariners are next at their Bluetongue Stadium home on Saturday, 6 December when they host the Queensland Roar in Round 14. Kick off is at 6pm.
Tickets for this match are on sale from Ticketek outlets, from the Ticketek website – www.ticketek.com.au, or via phone on 132 849.
