Coast clear for run to finals as underdogs' bite stops the barking
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday November 27, 2009
SINCE the A-League was formed five years ago, the Central Coast Mariners have carved a niche for themselves as perennial underdogs, a tag happily cultivated by the club and accepted by the broader football community.Maybe times are starting to change. The Mariners will never be a big-ticket item because of their location but it's hard to ignore the claims of a team that has cast aside its reputation as a boring, defensive outfit with little regard for attack.Five straight weeks on the road would usually demoralise players but Central Coast seem to have grown emboldened by the travel, clocking up a trio of big wins - 3-0 against Brisbane, 4-0 against Melbourne and a 5-1 thrashing of North Queensland.Finally, they are being feted as legitimate title contenders, and not just on the strength of their stingy defence, which has again been in fine form this season.Tonight the Mariners play host to Perth Glory in what is being billed as the biggest clash at Bluetongue Stadium for some time, certainly at least since their ill-fated Asian Champions League campaign.Ironically, that continental foray has been earmarked as a turning point within the club after an equally disastrous end to the A-League season, when they fell from top place in January to a straight-sets exit in the finals.It's been a slow process to get things back on track but coach Lawrie McKinna is looking forward to seeing his team back up in lights."There's been a lot of talk about the game up here this week, which is great, and I hope we can get a big crowd, certainly over 10,000," he said. "I think the boys deserve it because the shift that they have put in over the past five weeks has been outstanding. I hope the public shows their support and we can put the show on for them."But it's certainly not going to be an easy game because Perth were missing a few guys last week and came out with a great win over Sydney, and they'll remember how lucky we were to beat them in Canberra. "Asked what it was like to have the tag of title contenders lumped on the club's shoulders, McKinna said he wouldn't have it any other way."We're not really bothered about that because when we set our goals at the start of the season, we already felt we had a squad that could challenge and we're on track for that," he said. "We've had the inner belief since before that first ball was kicked on the opening night, not after."We've always believed we can challenge, and perhaps the only thing that's changed in the last two weeks is that the players are now believing in themselves as much as the coaching staff does."Thumping wins over Melbourne and the Fury in the past fortnight have put the Mariners firmly on the map but McKinna said it had been the result of gradual improvement rather than any instant fix."We've actually been reasonably comfortable in how we've been playing this season but in the past two weeks it just all came together," he said. "That transition through defence into attack has been a lot better than it has been in the past, and it's paid off in front of goal."One player who has shown his value to the club in both wins has been Nik Mrdja, the oft-injured striker with talent to burn but a seemingly endless catalogue of knee problems. Still, McKinna is confident Mrdja can continue scoring. "I've always had this great belief in Nik, and I think sometimes people have looked at me and said I'm crazy," McKinna said. "He's getting back to the Nik of old, and while I think he still can do more in games, he's got that confidence back that he needs. If you include youth games, he's scored something like eight in his past five matches."While Mrdja's presence will keep Matt Simon on the bench, Perth coach Dave Mitchell is expected to include the returning trio of Wayne Srhoj, Mile Sterjovski and Victor Sikora in his starting XI.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald