Central Coast midfielder John Hutchinson is desperate to claim the three points when the Mariners travel to Gold Coast on Saturday.
The Mariners are coming off a scoreless draw against Perth, but thanks to other results falling their way, they still find themselves in third place and can establish some breathing space with a win over United, which is in fourth place and equal on points with Central Coast, but has an inferior goal difference.
Hutchinson said the side is keen to rekindle its clinical finishing up front after scoring nine goals in the two matches before failing to score against the Glory.
“The boys know we didn’t do a good enough job going forward,” said Hutchinson.
“Defensively we were good again, but we didn’t create many chances, they created the better chances, so to get a point was good, but we were disappointed with our performance overall, and we’re looking to get back to where we were against Melbourne and North Queensland.”
“We need to work harder though. We can’t keep relying on results to go our way, we need to make the results that we can control better.”
“If we get the three points on the Gold Coast obviously we go second but we don’t want to be relying on other people’s results.”
Gold Coast is coming off a 4-0 defeat by Melbourne last start and Hutchinson knows redemption will be firmly on the agenda when it welcomes the Mariners to Skilled Park.
“No one likes to lose by big margins at any time. They have got a good team and some dangerous players,” he said.
“We need to watch what they can do well, but we need to concentrate on our own game, and get back to working hard, keeping the ball and knocking it around again.”
The last time these two sides met, the Mariners ran out comfortable 3-0 winners and Hutchinson was on the score sheet, but he knows that result will count for nothing if they fail to get something this weekend.
“It is a positive, any time you beat a team is a positive, but we need to make sure we work hard,” he said.
“All the boys are committed to getting a good result, and if we can do that, hopefully we will be second at the end of the week.”
“The boys are all doing well. With Pedj (Bojic), Matty (Crowell), Mikey (Michael McGlinchey), Trav (Nicky Travis) and myself, as well as Ahmad (Elrich) who has been playing up front and looking really good, so there is competition for positions and I think that shows by the performances that the boys have been putting in.”
