DUTCH defender Patrick Zwaanswijk hopes to make it a St Patrick’s Day to remember when the Mariners face the challenge of Adelaide United at Bluetongue Stadium on Saturday.
DUTCH defender Patrick Zwaanswijk hopes to make it a St Patrick-s Day to remember when the Mariners face the challenge of Adelaide United at Bluetongue Stadium on Saturday.
The towering stopper has scored six goals this campaign to sit just a solitary goal behind top-scorer Matthew Simon – now of Chunnam Dragons of the South Korean K-League – in the race for the Mariners- golden boot.
And, with the yellow and navy having struggled to hit the back of the net despite creating enough chances to do so of late, Zwaanswijk knows there-s never been a better time for him to find blast past the keeper again.
“It-s time for me to get a goal again,” he said. “ I-ve missed a few chances and gone pretty close sometimes but we need a new top scorer in our team … why wouldn-t it be me!?”
“[But] it doesn-t matter if I score goals, we just need a good win and we need to score goals and that-s basically what-s been missing the last few weeks. Everyone-s working hard defensively and in attack, but just in the final third it-s not working out for us.”
“We-re just an inch off.”
“In front of the home crowd with just two games left and still on top of the table we want to get a win at home and try to become Premiers in this competition,” he said.
Despite the knowledge that the Mariners can claim the Premiership should they win against Adelaide and rival Brisbane Roar either draw or lose away to Newcastle Jets in Saturday-s simultaneous Hyundai A-League fixture, Zwaanswijk said the focus was only on themselves.
Indeed, the former FC Utrecht, Oita Trinita and NAC Breda libero said they-ll only ask the result of the Roar Jets clash after they-ve completed their tussle with John Kosmina-s Reds.
“You have to focus on your own game and we know what we have to do in our own game and that-s the most important thing,” he said.
“Whatever Brisbane is doing and whatever Newcastle is doing, they will be doing the best they can do because they both want to win because they are both fighting.”
“We shouldn-t be focussed on the ladder, we shouldn-t be focussed on other teams, we should be focussed on our game and try to get a win at home to treat the supporters at home with a win.”
“We-ve got more goals than just winning the comp, we-ve got more goals to go in the finals and in the (AFC) Champions League.”
“We will ask after a good game we play ourselves, and get a win, we will ask what Brisbane has done or what Newcastle has done,” Zwaanswijk concluded.
While the Hyundai A-League Premiers trophy will be presented to Graham Arnold-s team after the final whistle should results end in their favour, the clash with Adelaide will also see Tony Walmsley-s title winning National Youth League (NYL) team honoured at half-time.
The NYL side will presented with the league trophy by Football Federation Australia representatives after they finished the season in top place – four points and a game clear of their closest rival, Perth Glory.
Match Details:
Central Coast Mariners vs. Adelaide United
Saturday 17 March, 2012
Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford – 5:30pm kick-off
Special event: NYL Presentation at half-time
Tickets: Please click here to purchase tickets to the match.
Twitter: Join the match conversation on Twitter. The official hash-tag for the fixture is #HALccmau
Line-ups: Please click here to download a complimentary match team-sheet
