By the Palm Trees – vs Adelaide
14th December 2013 – ADL v CCM – Coopers Stadium
What a difference a week makes. The Mariner’s reacted brilliantly to the fair criticisms of a week earlier by putting on an entertaining performance at fortress Bluetongue on Saturday night. While there is still plenty of potential for improvement, in the main, the questions of the previous week were answered in the best way possible. Mariner’s fans were sent home feeling optimistic about the future both on and off the pitch, while Sydney FC fans had to make the long trip home with more questions to ask than had been answered.
Despite a strong period of Sydney FC pressure early in the second half, this match was largely dominated by good combinations and interplay among the Mariners midfield and forwards and the continuation of great defensive structure. Glimpses of flowing moves, especially when Marcos Flores and Michael McGlinchey combined in the centre of midfield, were enough to inspire Central Coast fans to thoughts of a return to the quality football we’ve been seeing at Bluetongue every week for the last few years.
Off the field the crowd was not quite as large as I had hoped for at a NSW Derby match, but it was never the less, a significant improvement on the very low attendance recorded against Melbourne Victory the Friday before. Throughout this year the atmosphere generated among the Central Coast crowd has been ramping up every week and this match was probably our best effort yet. Fans are warming to the call and response of the Yellow Army and the sound of their singing, chanting and the band playing are a fantastic base for a crowd much more involved in loudly supporting the team than they have ever been before. Feedback from Mariner’s and other team fans alike has been superb.
This week we play a tough away game against an Adelaide side that don’t seem to have had any luck at all. They are playing reasonably well in most of their games but haven’t quite had the luck (or is it ability) to put away their oppositions. The Mariner’s record against them however is absolutely superb and it is a long time since they have come out victorious against us in any fixture we’ve played. This could mean it will be a relatively easy encounter for the Mariners, or more likely it means Adelaide are closing in on a performance to begin the task of turning the statistics around. Adelaide will be a threat to all opposition throughout the year simply because of the quality of some of their playing personnel. Playmaker Marcelo Carrusca is one of the best in the league, Bruce Djite is returning to form after his injury layoff and Adelaide have the speed of Awer Mabil and the finishing power of Jeronimo Neumann for the coach Josep Gombau to choose from.
Central Coast on the other hand has been slowly building their form to a point where last week we started to see what the Mariners could look like at their best. Defensively we’ve been strong all season but new combinations are beginning to work well. Storm Roux is showing he can be the flying winger we need bombing on down the right Flank; Trent Sainsbury is leading the defence as if he’s been doing it for years and Liam Reddy has shown reluctant Mariner’s fans there is actually a disciplined side to him. In the Midfield the Flores/McGlinchey combination is becoming one to be feared, Matty Simon is slowly returning to the hard charging goal poacher we know him as and Daniel McBreen is leading the line the way we expect the “Goal Machine” to.
For mine this will be a high quality yet tight match – there are no easy matches in the A-League! At happy hunting ground Coopers Stadium however, I think the Mariners can do it again and come away with the points.
Mariners by 1
Google+