Central Coast Mariners Assistant Coach, Wayne O’Sullivan, shares his thoughts ahead of Saturday’s #F3Derby.
After a strong win over Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium last weekend we-re currently sitting in third spot on the Hyundai A-League ladder.
We-re undefeated in 2014 and will be looking to extend that run when we play Newcastle Jets at Bluetongue Stadium tomorrow night.
Since the turn of the New Year we have faced an improving Melbourne Heart, rising Wellington Phoenix, and Sydney FC.
While we were disappointed with our performance in our 0-0 draw against Heart, our away result in Wellington was valuable given their previous run of results and subsequent hammering of Melbourne Victory (5-0) last round.
If the signs in Wellington were positive and began to show glimpses of the hard work being put in by the players and staff, then the Sydney game was clear evidence that the understanding and confidence is building well for the back half of the season.
The players were extremely sharp in the match against Sydney – as they have been in training this week – and they-re determined to record back-to-back wins for the first time this Hyundai A-League season against Newcastle.
One area of our play that we must improve upon against Newcastle is our finishing – we simply must be more clinical infront of goal and finish teams off when we have the chance. The Hyundai A-League is just far too tight a league to spurn opportunities to score.
Newcastle will arrive on the Coast highly motivated, and with a new Head Coach (Clayton Zane) at the helm we are expecting a tough match. But with the assistance of a large, vocal crowd we can silence the Jets!
In addition to the hard work on the field, the gaffer (Phil Moss) is working overtime with the Club in an attempt to maintain our current squad and add the necessary quality to help us continue our positive run in 2014.
We have the 2014 AFC Champions League Group Stage on the horizon as well as the business end of the 2013/14 Hyundai A-League season, so we must remain committed, focussed and united in order to achieve more success for the people of the Central Coast.
Central Coast Mariners vs. Newcastle Jets – Hyundai A-League 2013/14 Round 16
Saturday 25 January, 2014
Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
Kick-off: 7:45pm
Tickets: Please CLICK HERE to purchase tickets to the match
Twitter: Join the match conversation on Twitter. The official match hashtag is #F3Derby
TV: Live on Fox Sports 1 & 1HD
Radio: Live on ABC Grandstand & Coast FM
