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
Johan
Guest
Damning with faint praise eh - I like it. So you are suggesting that they could finish in the bottom half of the table (6th)
AZ_RBB
Guest
Lots of criticism over their playing style. But third is third. A good effort for a club that has lost more than half its players in the past few months and continues to lose them. ACL will test them more than ever this time around but fully expect them to finish in the top 6.
albo
Guest
You mustnt know many people then eddy.
albo
Guest
Johan.who are the reining champions?
Stevo
Guest
Back to the football eh. CCM just not anywhere near where you need to be to have a crack at the top couple of teams. I don't get the attitude displayed today where they stood off HeartFC and waited for a turnover before rushing forward to attack our goal. Such a negative game plan when you're playing at home. Is Moss going to follow in the steps of JA and turn a capable side into a pile of poo? HeartFC under JVS decided to keep possession more than under JA and try to find an opening before committing forward. Kind of worked but we are so low in confidence that players often reverted to defensive backing movements rather than taking on CCM. Also our ball movements needs to be much sharper but hey we didn't lose. I'll take a point on the road. And by the way, Mifsud is a waste of space.
Johan
Guest
Interesting to hear eddy and pretty much what I have heard from other sources. I know peeps from the central coast and they are all from western Sydney. Moved up to escape the traffic and get more space. Much like the Gold Coast, everyone is from somewhere else. Even harsher for CCM than the gold coast is that there is no substantial city- only the tiny town of gosford. Hard to have a professional team under such circumstances. Time to move them Davie boy gallop!!
eddy
Guest
Johan, so many of us that live on the central coast follow Sydney fc. Hardly anyone i know is born here. So many have moved here from the city and see this area as northern sydney. Its a very spread out area too. Lots of people that live here follow the Sydney teams as this is who we followed before moving here.
Johan
Guest
Crowd looks very low. Why? it is a Sunday evening? Does gosford want its team? It doesn't look like it. Move it to Townsville, they have shown that they are truely sorry for the fury fiasco.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Rumours going around that Mifsud was caught offside. Any truth? Sounds pretty unreasonable to me :P