Melbourne City strengthened their finals position with a 1-0 win over the Central Coast Mariners.
Final score
Melbourne City 1
Central Coast Mariners 0
Melbourne City will be looking to all but lock in a top three spot during Round 26 of the A-League when they host a battling Central Coast Mariners outfit in Melbourne. Join The Roar for live scores from 7:50pm (AEST).
City sit in third spot coming into the match, with the club on 40 competition points. It leaves them two ahead of cross-town rivals the Victory an another two clear of Adelaide United.
While a home final in the first week may not count for anything, given they are likely to take on the Victory, any upsets ahead of them would allow City to stay in the Victorian capital during the second week of finals action.
A loss though, and there is every chance not only the Victory leapfrog them on the table, but United close the game with a chance for it to swap around in the final week of action.
City bring some impressive form into this game on the back of two straight 3-0 victories, the last of those being over Newcastle, who sit in second place on the ladder and are one of the competition favourites after a huge regular season.
While City can’t catch the Jets on the table for second spot, the win provides them plenty of confidence heading into the finals, with a semi-final looming as a possibility in Newcastle.
With front men Bruno Fornaroli and Dario Vidosic, who scored a pair last week, showing good form, they are going to be hard to stop for a Mariners outfit who have had stunning highs and startling lows this season.
The Central Coast and their inconsistency leaves them sitting in ninth spot and out of the race for finals football. While they have, at times, competed with the top teams throughout the season, they have lost four straight. That includes a 1-0 beating from Brisbane last week, going down to Sydney and a 5-2 thumping at the hands of the Victory in Round 23.
Put simply, their defence isn’t doing enough to keep them in games, with an attack which has, for the most part in 2017-18, been weaker than many other teams in the competition.
Prediction
At home and playing against an inconsistent and struggling Central Coast outfit, the Victory should pick up a crucial three points.
Victory 2 – Mariners 0.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of the match from 7:50pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.
Here is the way the Roar expert panel sees all the action unfolding across the final weekend of play prior to the semi-finals.
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