Perth Glory FC will be aiming to beat its ‘bogey’ side in round five of the Hyundai A-League, when the team travels to Gosford to take on the Central Coast Mariners.
Both teams have met 27 times since the Hyundai A-League was formed but Perth has only won five of its head to head matches.
However Perth will be feeling confident after a solid start to the season and will be bouyed by the fact that when the two teams clashed in the last home game of the 2013/14 season, Glory walked off the pitch with a 3-1 win.
Perth will face a hectic schedule after the Mariners game. It will travel to Melbourne to tackle Victorian minnows Bentleigh Greens in the Semi-Final of the inaugural Westfield FFA Cup next Tuesday. A win against the Greens and Perth will go into the Cup Final and face either Adelaide United or the Mariners, who are battling it out, in the other Semi-Final clash.
Perth Glory FC captain Michael Thwaite says while historically the matches against the Mariners haven’t been in his team’s favour, there’s certainly a winning vibe amongst the boys which is proving difficult for other teams to break.
“Last year and this year are chalk and cheese” Thwaite said.
“We’re sitting in fourth spot on the ladder, one point from the top and we’re just one win away from an FFA Cup Final berth, so we head into this match positively, clear and focused on the task at hand” he added.
“I don’t take notice of the stats, as long as we keep playing well which we are, that’s all I’m worried about” Thwaite added.
The Mariners clash will also be somewhat of a homecoming for Glory’s Rostyn Griffiths.
The 27-year old midfielder, played for Central Coast between 2010 to 2012.
“It’s where it all began for me in terms of knowing what type of player I am” Griffiths said.
“I have a lot of friends still at the club and obviously my younger brother Brent, but there will be no friends once we are on the pitch” Griffiths warned.
Kick-off at Central Coast Stadium is at 2pm WST.
The match will be shown live on Channel 505 Fox Sports 4.
Hyundai A-League Fact 1
Star Striker Andy Keogh heads into this match as the league’s joint leading goal scorer (four goals)
Hyundai A-League Fact 2
Former Mariners and current Glory Midfielder, Rostyn Griffiths is ranked as the 7th best passer in the competition with a 76.3 percent success rate.
Perth Glory Squad : 1.Danny VUKOVIC (GK), 2.Jack CLISBY, 3.Brandon O’NEILL, 5.Rostyn GRIFFITHS, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Youssouf HERSI, 9.Andy KEOGH, 10.Nebojsa MARINKOVIC, 11.Richard GARCIA, 13.Diogo FERREIRA, 15.Jamie MACLAREN, 17.Mitch NICHOLS, 18.Jack DUNCAN (GK), 19.Josh RISDON, 20.Daniel DE SILVA, 21.Scott JAMIESON, 22.Cameron EDWARDS 23.Michael THWAITE (C)
***Two to be omitted***
INS : 3.Brandon O’NEILL (promoted), 18.Jack DUNCAN (GK) (promoted), 22.Cameron EDWARDS (promoted)
Outs : 30.Jordan THURTELL (omitted)
Unavailable: 8.Ruben ZADKOVICH (1 week back), 16.Sidnei (2 weeks- calf)
Central Coast Mariners Squad : 1.Matt NASH (gk), 2.Storm ROUX, 3.Josh ROSE, 4.Jacob POSCOLIERO, 5.Zac ANDERSON, 7.John HUTCHINSON (C), 8.Nick MONTGOMERY, 9.Mitchell DUKE, 10.Anthony CACERES, 11.Nick FITZGERALD, 12.Liam REDDY (gk), 14.Malick MANÉ, 15.Matt SIM, 18.Glen TRIFIRO, 21.Michael NEILL, 23.Isaka CERNAK, 25.Eddy BOSNAR, 26.KIM Seung-yong
***Two to be omitted***
INS : 12.Liam REDDY (gk) (returns from injury), 21.Michael NEILL (promoted), 23.Isaka CERNAK (promoted)
Outs : 30.Adam PEARCE (gk) (omitted)
Unavailable: 6.Brent GRIFFITHS (injury – 4 weeks)
Match Details
Sunday, 9 November 2014
Central Coast Mariners v Perth Glory
Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Kick-Off: 5:00 PM (EST) 2pm WST
Referee: Peter Green
Assistant Referee 1: David Walsh
Assistant Referee 2: Owen Goldrick
Fourth Official: Matthew Cropper
TV Broadcast: Live and exclusive coverage on FOX SPORTS 4HD & FOX SPORTS 4 from 4.30pm (AEDT) and Sky Sport 7 (New Zealand)
Radio Broadcast: 92.5 ABC Central Coast, 720 ABC Perth, ABC Local Radio WA, Grandstand Digital Perth, Grandstand Online/A-League Live Mobile phone app
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