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They’re a team that seem to thrive on being written off but coach Central Coast Mariners Lawrie McKinna insists his side can also handle the pressures of being labelled A-League title contenders.
After being tipped by many pundits as wooden-spoon contenders prior to the season, the Mariners are now considered genuine premiership threats after an impressive campaign which has them sitting third on the ladder.
McKinna’s side have the best defensive record in the league by a clear margin while recent 4-0 and 5-1 wins over Melbourne and North Queensland respectively proved they also have plenty of strikepower in front of goal.
While that hot run of form saw them head into Friday night’s home clash with Perth Glory as strong favourites, they could only manage a scoreless draw at Bluetongue Stadium.
But McKinna baulked at suggestions the performance could have been a result of the Mariners not handling favouritism as well as they do being underdogs.
“For us it’s really not an issue,” McKinna said.
“Everybody has started saying that about us, but from the first game of the season we felt we were contenders so it doesn’t really faze us.
“It was just on the night, two teams reasonably equally matched kind of nullified each other most of the time.”
Despite not taking the three points as expected, McKinna took plenty of positives from the result against a full-strength Perth team.
Among them was a lively late cameo from former Socceroos winger Ahmad Elrich, who came close to netting a winner with a long-range effort.
McKinna said Elrich could soon return to the starting line-up and predicted he was ready to bounce back to his best after several injury-riddled seasons.
“He’s like a new player,” McKinna said.
“He’s been training well and he’s served his time in the youth team to get that match fitness and it’s paid off for him.
“He’s not far off (starting) but when you’re on a good run it’s hard to get into the team.”
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