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Central Coast fought back to claim a remarkable draw despite falling down 3-0 in the first half against Perth Glory.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
Perth Glory 3
Central Coast Mariners 3
Perth Glory will commence the new A-League season full of hope when they host last season’s bottom team the Central Coast Mariners at NIB Stadium on Saturday night. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 10pm (AEDT).
These two teams start the season at polar opposites of the hope spectrum.
Perth after a poor start to last season finished in a blaze of glory which saw them win 10 out of 11 games between rounds 16 to 26. During this time, they averaged just under three goals a game scoring 32 and conceding just 13.
Attacking midfielder and Johnny Warren medallist Diego Castro led the way with some dazzling and masterful performances. Andy Keogh was tremendous on his return to the side during this period and kicked 10 goals during this 11 game stretch. Castro, Keogh and Chris Harald accounted for 23 of the 32 goals.
The Central Coast Mariners, on the other hand, are coming off their worst ever A League season, setting records for the most losses (20), most goals conceded (70), and zero clean sheets.
However, one of their three wins did come against the Glory, which coincidentally was also the opening game of last season. The rest of the season was a disaster and new coach Paul Okon faces an enormous challenge just to keep his club off the bottom of the table, especially as Okon was only appointed in August and so has only had a short time to prepare the team.
New signings Jacques Faty, Mickael Tavares and Ivan Necevski will help add some badly needed depth and experience and Connor Pain will add some pace in the midfield but the Mariners still severely lack depth and quality.
The Glory have added some excellent new signings in Rhys Williams (from Middlesbrough), Joseph Mills (Oldham Athletic), Liam Reddy (WSW), Rostyn Griffiths (Roda JC). It’s hard to spot many weaknesses in their line-up.
Prediction
Glory are third favourites for the title and have excellent depth on every line. They will be serious challengers for the championship this season.
The Mariners on the other hand are hot favourites to finish bottom and it’s amazing to think they were champions just three years ago.
Glory at home should be too strong. Glory 3-0.
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