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Central Coast Mariners can move into third on the A-League ladder with a win over the winless Melbourne Heart at Bluetongue Stadium. Join us for live scores from 5.00pm AEDT.
Departing midfielder Michael McGlinchey is certain the Central Coast Mariners will make the A-League top four, despite losing key personnel for the remainder of the season.
New Zealander McGlinchey will play his final game of the campaign for the Mariners against Melbourne Heart at Bluetongue Stadium on Sunday, before starting a loan spell at Japanese club Vegalta Sendai under former Central Coast coach Graham Arnold.
The Gosford-based club will also have to negotiate the rest of the season without another classy midfielder, Marcos Flores, who suffered a season-ending knee injury at training on Thursday.
McGlinchey anticipated it would be an emotional game for him at the end of a “fantastic” four-and-a-half year journey with the Mariners.
He expected the last-placed Heart, who have gone 17 matches without a win, to fire up under new coach John van ‘t Schip.
“It’s going to be a tough game. Whenever a club has a new manager, they’ll come out firing and try to impress,” McGlinchey told AAP.
“Obviously they are on a bad run, so they are going to try and hope to end that.
“But we picked up a good three points last week and we want to build on that and go back to back, and try and treat Bluetongue as a fortress.”
The Mariners have yet to win back-to-back games this season and McGlinchey revealed his goal-shy side had done extra shooting practice this week.
He firmly believed the Mariners can generate momentum off their last-start 2-1 victory over Perth on New Year’s Eve, when he scored a stoppage time winner.
McGlinchey said things were coming together for the Mariners despite their inconsistent results.
“I think the team is looking good at the moment,” McGlinchey said.
“I think we will definitely finish in the top four and hopefully another grand final.”
Van ‘t Schip acknowledged an away clash at the champions represented a tough start to his tenure, but pointed out the Mariners had been dealing with issues of their own.
“Central Coast Mariners has a season with lows and highs, a little bit maybe because of the change of coach, and some players that are gone,” van ‘t Schip said.
“Now Flores is out as well, so they will have their things to solve as well.
“I think we have a chance against them, but we have to think about ourselves, that’s the most important thing.”
– With AAP