This is when the whips start cracking! The run home to the finals in the A-League is hotting up as the form teams of the competition start to surge their way towards the top six, and Adelaide are one of the teams at the forefront of that. Winning three of their last five, the Reds are looking good at the right time and with their last start against the Mariners being a demolition they, will be super confident they can do the job tonight.
Mariner’s fans fell back to earth when Melbourne Victory took a resounding win and three points from fortress Central Coast Stadium last weekend and will be looking for the new faces around the playing squad to help provide the spark to turn that around. While the Mariners showed glimpses of quality against the Victory and found some of the refereeing decisions difficult to contend with, they were never in the race. To be fair, when Victory first visited Central Coast this year they were never really in the match either but somehow soaked up all the pressure and clung on to a (probably not deserved) point. My view was that the poor form of the Victory in the previous few weeks would be the reason we were able to come up with the necessary goods to claim a win. How wrong I was! We’ll need to get a lot better if we want to get the result tonight.
Despite the loss, the performance of the fans at the stadium last weekend was nothing short of superb. The improved atmosphere, which has occurred over this season, is something all yellow fans can be proud of and the Yellow Army have been the leaders of this and they continue to provide the pattern, engaging and involving the other fans in the stadium in their efforts. There are plenty of points which illustrate this improvement, but none more obvious than the brass band, which has now become an icon of a day at the stadium in Gosford, and which goes from strength to strength every game. In a more broad sense, the efforts to increase the pre-game atmosphere outside the stadium, the improvements to the presentation of the cannon and the provision of the match day paper all contribute to greater enjoyment and entertainment value for everyone who gets to a game. No one group is responsible for these things but kudos to the Gosford City Council, Central Coast Mariners FC, the Central Coast Mariners Official Supporters Club and the Yellow Army for all of their contributions to them. The fantastic atmosphere at the game came to an incredible crescendo when, after fulltime, the gates were thrown open for the fans to flood the pitch, taking their footballs with them. I’d estimate more than two thousand fans hung around after the match to take the field their hero’s play on and I think a brilliant time was had by them. Fans re-enacting the penalty which should have gone to Mile Sterjovski and retaking Gui Finkler and Eddy Bosnar’s free-kicks were just a few of the activities happening out there on a beautiful night at one of the most picturesque stadiums in the world.
Tonight we’re in Adelaide and it will be a tough ask for the mighty Yellow and Blue. But news, hot off the press, that Kim Seung-yong’s transfer paperwork is finalised, will bring smiles to the faces of many of our fans. While I’m sure it will take some time for Kim to have maximum effect in the playing squad, the inside information about his progress says he is already showing plenty to suggest his impact will be significant. Like Phil Moss, I am excited at the prospect of having an Asian player of real quality coming into the A-League and into our side. Of course it will be of interest how he compares to the impact say Tom Rogic might have had if he had returned to our club. Time to begin to find out!
I think the Mariner’s will be a lot better side than the one which tasted our biggest defeat in a long time at our last visit to Adelaide. Eddy Bosnar, who was superb last week, will be a week more in tune with the squad and a week fitter for that performance. While Kim’s presence will cause some reshuffling, the expected return of Nick Montgomery to the line-up will be more than helpful. Nick has performed like a machine this year and his presence at the base of the midfield last week was more than missed. The question of who he replaces – Anthony Caceres or John Hutchinson – is an interesting one indeed. For mine, if form is the criteria, there can only be one answer to that question.
I think the Mariners can improve on last week and their last visit to Hindmarsh but I also think Adelaide are worth the good form they have recently established.
My prediction is a tight match and a draw, but with goals. 1-1
