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Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick has promised to fight attacking fire with fire in his side’s A-League top of the table clash with Central Coast at Telstra Dome on Friday night.
Merrick is considering unleashing a four-pronged attack from kick-off against the Mariners, who have marched into second place on the ladder with their own multi-weaponed strike force.
Central Coast are unbeaten since coach Lawrie McKinna started playing with three strikers – the A-League’s leading scorer Matt Simon, Sasho Petrovski and Dylan Macallister.
More of the same is likely from the Mariners on Friday night, with McKinna naming an unchanged squad.
But Merrick is toying with the prospect of throwing fit-again midfielder Carlos Hernandez into the league leaders’ attack, which already boasts Socceroos Archie Thompson and Danny Allsopp and Brazilian Ney Fabiano.
“Carlos is obviously not match fit for 90 minutes, but it’s just a case of whether we start him or bring him on once the pace of the game eases off,” Merrick said of Hernandez, who has overcome a quadriceps injury.
“Carlos is 100 per cent. He’s raring to go.
“It’ll really be a game of two sets of strikers that are going to have a go at the goalkeepers.”
As well as holding the top two spots on the ladder, the Mariners and Victory are also the two highest scoring teams in the competition and have a history of turning on exciting matches.
The Mariners beat Adelaide United 3-0 last weekend to move into second, but McKinna knows the Victory will provide a litmus test of where Central Coast sit in the A-League pecking order.
“It’s going to be hard, but going into these games you have to back yourself,” McKinna said.
“We’re not going to be overconfident because we never are. We know it’s going to be a hard game and we’re going to have to be on top of ours to get anything out of it.”
Victory midfielder Grant Brebner is set to play despite a stomach virus.
Brebner is among several Victory players who have been struck down with the ailment recently.
But Merrick said the Scottish midfielder was an almost certain starter.
“At this stage he’s just struggling to keep food down, but he’s been in fantastic form,” Merrick said.
“He’s got no fever or anything else, so I’m pretty certain he’ll start.”
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