Alen Stajcic and the Central Coast Mariners will be looking to bounce back to winning ways on Tuesday night when they take on Perth Glory at HBF Park in the West.
The Mariners have had an extended break after the loss to Adelaide two Friday’s ago, but have trained well and have their sights set on one of the competition’s form teams.
Perth set an A-League record on Friday night when they scored three goals against Brisbane, with their 18 goals in the first six matches of a season beating the previous mark for attacking output.
Richard Garcia’s team are slowly making up their games in hand having had a curtailed start to the campaign, with COVID-19 restrictions and quarantine regulations forcing them inside for two weeks only recently.
Stajcic confirmed on Monday morning that the Mariners will be without Gianni Stensness once more as he recovers from injury, but said recovery is going well for the young midfielder.
The Mariners coach named an unchanged squad, with the additions of Matt Hatch and Louis Khoury, from the group that travelled to Adelaide this week, and he again has plenty of options in midfield to cover the absence of Stensness.
Gameday in the West!
We're up against the Glory tonight in Perth, looking to get back to winning ways. #CCMFC #WontBackDown #PERvCCM pic.twitter.com/ILdc3Tk9rP— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) March 1, 2021
With Perth well and truly firing Stajcic is under no illusions about the test ahead, but said his side is ready and up for the fight.
“As we know they are one of the inform teams in the competition,” he said.
“You just know their strike force is going to be so good with all the attackers, they’ve got Castro, Fornaroli, D’Agostino, and Ikonomidis to come in and Keogh, they’ve got so much attacking force and threat up front so a real good challenge for us tomorrow night but we’re really looking forward to it.”
“We know it’s going to be a tough game, but I think we’ve provided stiff opposition for everyone so far, we’ve probably been unlucky to not get a result in every match.”
“We’ve earned the position we’re in, if not we’re probably a touch unlucky not to be on 20, 21, maybe even more points.”
“So look we’re confident, but definitely going to be a stern challenge tomorrow night.”
The Mariners last win outside New South Wales was in this fixture last season when goals from Daniel DeSilva and Sam Silvera helped them to a 2-1 win in the West, but Stajcic said on Monday that the difference in the teams now means they are not looking to that result for any inspiration.
“… It’s a different team, they’re a different team, so we can’t really reflect on that last year and that performance,” he said.”
“It’s really about what we’ve done this year, and that has been the thing that has given us the most amount of belief and confidence in the team, to know that it doesn’t matter who we play against we can compete.
“And having beaten and competed against and got results against some of the best teams in the competition for this year and towards the end of last year, we know we can beat anyone.”
“But certainly away from home, a difficult trip away and against a good team there’s not going to be a bigger test we’ll face all year.
Squads |
Perth Glory squad: 1.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 5.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS, 6.Osama MALIK, 8.Kosuke OTA, 9.Bruno FORNAROLI, 10.Andy KEOGH, 15.Brandon WILSON, 16.Nick SULLIVAN, 17.Diego CASTRO (C), 18.Nick D’AGOSTINO, 20.Carlo ARMIENTO, 21.Bryce BAFFORD, 22.Josh RAWLINS, 23.Dane INGHAM, 24.Daniel STYNES, 29.Darryl LACHMAN, 33.Liam REDDY (gk), 34.Mason TATAFU, 38.Ciaran BRAMWELL, 88.Neil KILKENNY
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 21.Bryce BAFFORD (promoted), 38.Ciaran BRAMWELL (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 7.Chris IKONOMIDIS (knee – 2-3 weeks)
Central Coast Mariners squad: 1.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk), 3.Lewis MILLER, 4.Joshua NISBET, 5.Stefan NIGRO, 8.Oliver BOZANIC (c), 10.Daniel DESILVA, 11.Jack CLISBY, 12.Marcos UREÑA, 14.Daniel BOUMAN, 15.Kye ROWLES, 19.Matt SIMON, 20.Adam PEARCE (gk), 21.Ruon TONGYIK, 22.Michal JANOTA, 23.Dan HALL, 25.Matthew HATCH, 26.Jaden CASELLA, 29.Alou KUOL, 32.Max BALARD, 33.Louis KHOURY
Ins: 25.Matthew HATCH (Promoted), 33.Louis KHOURY (Promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 6.Gianni STENSNESS (Lower Leg – 1-2 weeks), 30.Jordan SMYLIE (Knee – 2 Weeks)
Game Details |
Tuesday, 2 March 2021
Perth Glory v Central Coast Mariners
HBF Park, Perth
Kick-Off: 6:20pm (Local)(9:20pm (AEDT))
Referee: Daniel Elder
Assistant Referee 1: Josh Mannella
Assistant Referee 2: Matthew Southern
Fourth Official: Shane Skinner
VAR: Chris Beath
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 9:00pm (AEDT), Sky Sport 7 (New Zealand), Kayo Sports (www.kayosports.com.au) and MyFootball Live App, Live Fast and Data Free for Telstra mobile customers
Radio Broadcast: myfootballnation.com (SEN Track Perth 657AM, SEN WA, SEN SPIRIT 621AM, Coast FM 96.3)
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #PERvCCM
