Saturday’s clash with Melbourne City will be a milestone outing for Mariners’ skipper Oliver Bozanic as he makes his 150th A-League appearance.
The midfielder made his A-League debut for the Mariners on August 5th, 2010, against the previous iteration of Saturday’s opponents, Melbourne Heart.
Now, just under 10 years since that debut, Bozanic will enter game 150 as captain of a team looking to jump back into the top two and spoil the party for Melbourne City.
Hear from the skipper @oliverbozanic as the boys wrapped up preparations to take on City tomorrow. #CCMFC #WontBackDown #MCYvCCM pic.twitter.com/1RNZSCvhbH
— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) May 21, 2021
Bozanic made nine appearances for City, 48 for Melbourne Victory and Saturday’s game will be his 93rd in the Yellow & Navy and is excited to complete the milestone in the shirt of his home club.
“It’s great to play 150 games, especially at the club I started with in the A League,” he said on Friday.
“It is important to me and my family and I’m looking forward to the game.”
A win for the Mariners would see them leapfrog Sydney FC once more into second spot on the table, and Bozanic said the team are up for the challenge of taking on the ladder leaders with a win in last weekend’s derby under their belt.
“It is a big challenge this weekend, but we’re looking forward to it,” Bozanic said.
“We’ve had two good results, two good performances in recent weeks and now we are going into a big game against City.”
“The derby against Newcastle was an important win for us. A good game, a good test, and now we head into City full of confidence and ready to go.”
The Mariners have the opportunity to spoil City’s party, with the hosts hoping to lift the Premiership Plate with a win, but Bozanic said that while the team is excited about the nail-biting finish to the season, the focus is only on themselves.
“We are going there to perform and to play well and to try win the game,” Bozanic said.
“We are excited about the game and we have prepared well for it and that’s our main message and what we want to achieve.”
“We are embracing it [tight A-League], enjoying every moment. We do have a young team and all the players are excited to play every week and we are looking forward to every game as it comes.”
Game Details |
Saturday, 22 May 2021
Melbourne City FC v Central Coast Mariners
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Kick-Off: 7:10pm (Local)(7:10pm (AEST))
Referee: Shaun Evans
Assistant Referee 1: George Lakrindis
Assistant Referee 2: Daniel Ilievski
Fourth Official: Lachlan Keevers
VAR: Kate Jacewicz
