Round 14 preview: Wellington Phoenix vs Central Coast Mariners
Wellington Phoenix vs Central Coast Mariners
Sunday 12 January
Kickoff: 7pm (NZDT), 9pm (AEDT)
Westpac Stadium, Wellington NZ
The final match of round 14 sees the Central Coast Mariners travel across the Tasman to take on a red-hot Wellington Phoenix. The boys from New Zealand have won their last three matches on the trot after a slow start to the season. Last weeks victory over Western Sydney on the road would have sent warning signs out to the other teams that the Phoenix are finally on the rise.
Despite sitting second third on the A-League table the Mariners head into this match as the underdogs. Their form of late has been inconsistent and the loss of Marco Flores to injury and Michael McGlinchey to the J-League will have rattled last year’s champions. They enter the match on the back of a draw with bottom of the table Melbourne Heart.
Head to head: Played 19. Phoenix 5, Mariners 11, Draws 3.
Previous encounter: Mariners 1-0 Phoenix, Dec 19 2013 (Round 6)
Possible XI:
Wellington Phoenix: Moss – Boxall, Sigmund, Durante, Muscat – Reira, Lia – Cunningham, Hernandez, Brockie – Huysegems.
Central Coast Mariners: Reddy – Roux, Rose, Sainsbury, Anderson – Hutchinson, Montgomery, Duke, McBreen – Fitzgerald, Sterjovski.
Eyes On: Stein Huysegems
Huysegems seems to finally be hitting his stride after struggling to make an impact in the opening rounds of the competition. The Belgium international picked up two goals last week against the Wanderers and will be on the hunt for more back home in front of the local fans.
Prediction:
The Mariners are obviously missing two of their key playmakers and looked disorganised against the Heart last week. They may find it difficult to stop a red-hot Phoenix team high on confidence after three straight wins and playing in front of their home fans for the first time in three weeks. Expect to see the Phoenix winning streak extend to four matches as they break a three year winless streak against the Mariners.
Phoenix 2 – 0 Mariners
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