Mariners Adamant Grand Hopes Afloat Despite Leaking Goals In Newcastle

Newcastle Herald

Monday January 28, 2008

By RENEE VALENTINE

THE Central Coast Mariners have not beaten Newcastle for nearly two years, but their coach Lawrie McKinna is confident they can change that trend when they host the second leg of the A-League major semi-final.

Last night's victory extended Newcastle's unbeaten streak over their neighbours to eight games.

The last time the Mariners got the better of the Jets was on February 10, 2006, in the inaugural league's finals series.

Coincidentally, the two sides meet again on February 10, this time to determine the first side through to the grand final, which will be played in Sydney.

The Mariners must win by at least two goals in the return leg to stand a chance of avoiding a preliminary final against either Sydney or Queensland Roar.

The Jets will enter the match with confidence after securing four successive wins for the first time in the club's history.

Statistics favour Newcastle, but McKinna believes his charges can find what has become an elusive win over the Jets.

"I think it's been two years since the last time we beat them, but we feel quite a few of the games we deserved to win, we deserved to get something, and tonight was one of those games," he said.

"I don't know what the stats are for the game, but I'm sure we would've been right up there with possession, shots and shots on target.

"Bogy or not, we have to beat them some time, and hopefully it is in two weeks' time."

The fortnight break gives the Central Coast plenty of time to pick themselves up after the loss.

Despite the result, McKinna was pleased with his team's performance last night.

"The boys in the dressing-room were pretty upset but very positive that we can go on and do it," McKinna said.

"We came out here and played reasonably well.

"We didn't get the bounce of the ball, but there are a lot of positives from the game, and we'll go and build on that in the next two weeks and go into the game full of confidence and try to get a goal and then put them under pressure at home.

"Newcastle is definitely in the box seat, but 2-0 is a dangerous score."

The F3 derby is always a passionate encounter.

Adding fuel to the fire last night were comments made by Jets captain Jade North on the eve of the game that the Mariners relied on route-one football and had "the worst passing game" in the league.

The comments were not lost on Mariners skipper Alex Wilkinson.

"Obviously that's Jade's opinion it fired the boys up a bit, I guess," Wilkinson said.

"We definitely don't think we're the worst passing team in the league, and I think we probably showed that a bit tonight.

"We can knock the ball around well, and for a team like us, we create so many chances week in, week out, you can't do that just by booting the ball long and playing the long-ball game, so I'm not too sure which game he's been watching.

"Obviously that is his opinion, and he can say what he wants, but we don't believe that.

"Not all is lost we're still quite confident we can go back home and score two goals, or three goals, and win the tie.

"Obviously 1-0 away from home, us playing quite well, wasn't a bad result.

"Two-nil makes it a bit tough. [The Griffiths penalty] obviously knocked the stuffing out of us a bit, and the boys are a bit upset, but everyone is very confident we can score two goals at home."

The equation

MAJOR SEMI-FINAL

FIRST LEG

JETS 2 (A Griffi ths 22m J Griffi ths 85m)

MARINERS 0 at EnergyAustralia Stadium.

Referee: M Breeze. Crowd: 22,960.

SECOND LEG

Bluetongue Stadium, Sunday, February 10, 6pm

* If Jets win or draw second leg, they go through to

grand fi nal on February 24.

* Mariners must win by three goals to qualify.

* If Mariners win 2-0, the second leg will go to extra time.

* If Mariners win by two but Jets score, Jets go through on away-goal rule.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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