The Mariners will be back in action and looking for revenge on Wednesday night as they travel to Dolphin Stadium to take on Brisbane Roar.
The two teams met only a fortnight ago at Central Coast Stadium, with a red card to Marco Ureña swinging momentum to the Roar as they finished 4-0 winners.
The Mariners have had an extended break since their last game, a 1-1 draw against Melbourne Victory 10 days ago, while the Roar have had a busy run of fixtures, winning four of their last six matches, the most recent of which was a 3-2 loss to Melbourne City on Sunday.
With the ladder tightening as the A-League enters the home stretch, Ruon Tongyik spoke on Monday about the crucial nature of every game now and the task ahead against Brisbane.
“Any result can just dictate where exactly you are on the ladder,” he said.
“Coming to the end of the season now, every game is crucial, it’s basically like a final.”
“It [last game v Brisbane] is one of those games where you have to learn from it.”
?️"It’s the best my body’s ever felt, and I am really enjoying my football at the moment with a great bunch of boys." #CCMFC #WontBackDown #BRIvCCM
More from Ruon ?? https://t.co/bqZKByn1HW pic.twitter.com/9Q8j3yAhTa— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) May 12, 2021
“I think heading into Brisbane this week to play them, we are going to go in there full of confidence and we know the way they play now because that was the first time, we played them this season.”
Just four points separate second spot from eighth, ninth if you add an extra point, and the race top finals is set to be tighter than ever.
It’s the perfect setup for a neutral fan, and Mariners coach Alen Stajcic spoke of the level of the competition this season.
“It’s been an unbelievable competition this year,” he said.
“The players across the board deserve a lot of credit. They’ve had to sacrifice a lot this year and more than any other year, whether it’s living away from home, whether its excessive travel, the small turnarounds between matches.”
“It’s been an amazing show of entertainment and I think everyone involved in this year’s competition, coaches and staff deserves a lot of credit for that”.
The congestion also means though that every game becomes so important for the Mariners, beginning with the clash in Brisbane, and despite the defeat two weeks ago Staj said the result of that game will not be a factor heading into Wednesday’s outing.
“I don’t tend to look at score lines again even though they’re the most important aspect of the game, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“Performances are always the thing that we look at and how we can improve. Every week is just about getting better and improving and seeing what we can get out of each moment at training to make ourselves more effective and efficient in the next game and that’s what we have done in training.”
Aside from the suspended Ureña, Staj has a full squad to pick from, with Alou Kuol available for this meeting after he missed the reverse fixture through illness.
Squads|
Brisbane Roar FC squad: 1.Macklin FREKE (gk), 2. Scott NEVILLE, 3.Corey BROWN, 6.Macaulay GILLESPHEY, 8.Danny KIM, 9.Masato KUDO, 10.Riku DANZAKI, 11.Joe CHAMPNESS, 16.Joshua BRINDELL-SOUTH, 17.Golgol MEBRAHTU, 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk), 22.Antonee BURKE-GILROY, 23.Dylan WENZEL-HALLS, 25.Rahmat AKBARI, 26.Jay O’SHEA, 27.Kai TREWIN, 29.Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS 34.Alex PARSONS, 36. Eli ADAMS 37.Cyrus DEHMIE
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 8.Danny KIM (promoted), 22.Antonee BURKE-GILROY (new signing), 37.Cyrus DEHMIE (promoted)
Outs: 22.Patrick FLOTTMANN (end of short-term contract)
Unavailable: 5.Tom ALDRED (hamstring), 15. Jesse DALEY (suspended), 19.Jack HINGERT (hamstring),
Central Coast Mariners squad: 1.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk), 3.Lewis MILLER, 4.Joshua NISBET, 5.Stefan NIGRO, 6.Gianni STENSNESS, 7.Stefan JANKOVIC, 8.Oliver BOZANIC (c), 10.Daniel DE SILVA, 11.Jack CLISBY, 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, 30.Jordan SMYLIE
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 22.Michal JANOTA (Promoted), 23.Dan Hall (Promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 12.Marco UREÑA (Suspended)
Game Details |
Wednesday, 12 May 2021
Brisbane Roar FC v Central Coast Mariners
Moreton Daily Stadium, Redcliffe
Kick-Off: 7:05pm (Local)(7:05pm (AEST))
Referee: Chris Beath
Assistant Referee 1: Nathan MacDonald
Assistant Referee 2: Andrew Lindsay
Fourth Official: Adam Kersey
VAR: Alex King
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 7:00pm (AEST), 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: COAST FM 96.3
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #BRIvCCM
