Mariners defender Ziggy Gordon praised the effort of his teammates in Friday’s 50th #F3Derby, after the see-sawing contest ended in a goalless draw.
Gordon was important in keeping the Jets out with a number of stops and tackles in the last line, and said his performance was a product of the work before the match.
REPORT: Spoils shared as 50th F3 Derby ends goalless
Personally it’s no different to what I try and do every single week,” he said.
“It’s great to get a few accolades but quite honestly it’s the same effort and same work that goes into every single game because each one is as important as the next.”
“For the team, I was really pleased with how we defended and we really cared, and the boys do care and I think through the games we’ve been frustrated at some points but last night shows that we can get results and get [our hands] dirty when we need to.”
The Mariners were opened up early by Newcastle before working their way back into the match, eventually controlling parts of the second half and creating chances towards the end to almost steal the game.
“I think it is a great learning curve, particularly for the young boys that came on that football is a 90 minute game,” Gordon said following a recovery session on Saturday.
Hear from @ziggyG16 after last night's #F3Derby as we prepare for #CCMvWSW on Monday. #CCMFC pic.twitter.com/8eKgQgzgk3
— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) July 25, 2020
“It’s always going to be to-and-fro for large parts of the match and I think that showed yesterday.”
“Newcastle came into it after about 30 minutes and we managed to hold them off, and if you hold them off you’ve always got a chance and in that last 10 minutes there’s no doubt we had the ascendancy and a chance to win the game.”
Alen Stajcic and his staff must now manage a short turnaround to Monday night’s clash with the Wanderers at Central Coast Stadium as the Hyundai A-League season plays out over a shortened period.
Stajcic spoke post-match on Friday of the importance of rotation and allocating minutes in that match and Gordon said on Saturday that a young squad will aid the turnaround.
“For me it’s no different to what I’ve been used to since I first played professionally at 17, last season I think I played 43 games and I was very used to playing a Saturday and Tuesday, or Saturday and Wednesday,” he said.
“I think having a young squad it’s certainly in our favour and I think on Monday there shouldn’t be any excuses be it fatigue or tiredness to not put out a really strong performance.”
The Mariners and Wanderers have met twice already this season with the Western Sydney side prevailing on both occasions, but Gordon believes those two matches have created a degree of familiarity that the Mariners can use to their advantage.
“I think we know exactly what we’ve got to combat.”
“We know their key players, we’ve played them enough times to know where their flaws and their strengths are and we’ll go into it fully focussed on exploiting those flaws and hopefully putting ourselves in a strong position and working towards our strengths.”
