Embarrassed Central Coast players have promised a more committed performance when the Mariners battle to keep their Asian Champions League hopes alive against Kawasaki in Japan on Tuesday night.
The Mariners were completely outclassed by the Japanese heavyweights when the teams met in Gosford just under two weeks ago.
The 5-0 defeat was the heaviest of coach Lawrie McKinna’s distinguished career.
Many of the players also had never been on the end of such an emphatic defeat. The movement and skill of Kawasaki’s potent front men proved way too much for the Mariners’ under-pressure defence.
Now McKinna and the players are determined to prove they can compete in Asia with a big performance away from home.
“That first game was a very tough night for us,” attacking midfielder Adam Kwasnik said.
“We didn’t turn up and paid the price, that won’t happen again.”
Several players even took the step of apologising to supporters and promised a much better showing in Japan.
McKinna admitted the players were down for some days after the match but have picked themselves up well at training.
He is sure his team will not be intimidated by the atmosphere in Japan, despite coming off such a poor performance at home.
“We need to get a bit of belief back,” McKinna said.
“We won’t hold back and wait for them, we’ll have a go and try and get a result. Maybe we had too much respect for them at home.”
In their three Champions League matches the Mariners have only scored two goals. The club will take heart from the fact both goals came away from home, against Tianjin Teda in China last month.
