COMBATIVE British midfielder Nick Montgomery was happy with the Mariners start to the new Hyundai A-League season, but believes he and his teammates can do better when they host Perth Glory at Bluetongue Stadium this Sunday.
COMBATIVE British midfielder Nick Montgomery was happy with the Mariners start to the new Hyundai A-League season, but believes he and his teammates can do better when they host Perth Glory at Bluetongue Stadium this Sunday.
Montgomery came on in the 70th minute of the round 1 clash with A-League new boys Western Sydney Wanderers last Saturday, and after training this morning said the team is feeling settled heading into the contest with the purple-whites.
“Everybody is relaxed,” Montgomery said. “As much as we were happy with a point against Western Sydney we know that we-re better than that. We know we could have come back with three points.”
“There were chances to either side in the Western Sydney game and possibly both teams could have been a bit better in front of goal.”
“It-s a good start to the league but the first home game on Sunday, we want to get three points and get a good start at home,” he said.
Despite only playing the final 20 minutes of the game against Wanderers, Montgomery said he had already attained a positive impression regarding the standard of football in Australia-s top flight.
But with no Foxtel yet installed in his Central Coast home, the Sheffield United legend admitted his knowledge of rival teams in the competition is still a work in progress.
“It-s a fantastic standard and there are some very, very fit, athletic boys (in the Hyundai A-League),” he said.
“Unfortunately I haven-t got Foxtel yet so I haven-t been able to watch the rest of the A-League games, but I-ve tried to catch up on some of the action.”
“By all accounts they-re (Perth) a decent team with some good players, some that have played abroad as well so it-s going to be a testing game.”
For Montgomery, Sunday-s fixture against Perth Glory will be the first time he has donned an all pink kit on the football pitch.
But the former English Premier League midfielder said he and his teammates were happy to do so in the name of charity.
“It-s the first time I-ve worn all pink, but obviously it-s for a fantastic cause and the lads are all behind the cause,” he said.
In an Hyundai A-League first Central Coast Mariners will trade their traditional yellow playing strips for pink kits in support of Pink Ribbon Day.
Central Coast Mariners vs. Perth Glory
Sunday 14 October, 2012 – Kick-off 5:00pm (local)
Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium
Tickets: Please CLICK HERE to purchase tickets to the match.
Twitter: Join the match conversation on Twitter. The official match hashtag is #CCMvPG
