Official FFA Preview: North Queensland Fury v Central Coast Mariners
Friday 5th November 7:30pm
Fury need your support. Let-s make it another great turnout at Dairy Farmers Stadium as Franz Straka-s Green Army do battle with goal-crazy Central Coast Mariners.
The Green Army was in excellent voice last week. Amid a great atmosphere created by over 7,000 fans, Franz Straka-s boys were unlucky to lose to a strong Gold Coast United side.
The late Nickel Cup defeat to their local rivals might have served up yet more disappointment for Fury followers, but this Friday gives their side another chance to turn the season around. In tumultuous times for the North Queensland club, it-s vital that they snatch a win from somewhere soon, and the Green Army can certainly play their part by once again by turning up in numbers. Your support is vital.
The tough challenges just keep on coming though and, with third-placed Mariners up next, Fury will have to show the same level of hard-work and dedication that so nearly saw them grind out a draw with United and that has seen them pick up points against Perth, Victory and Sydney this season.
However, the challenge will be made harder for Fury by the fact that they-ll be without influential defender Eric Akoto, who damaged his right medial ligament early on in the defeat to United.
Fury will certainly be keen to settle some scores against this Friday-s opponents. When the two sides met in Week 9, Fury were on course for a hard-earned draw, but, just like last Sunday, were undone by a late goal.
Having pegged Mariners back to 2-2 late on, they battled on despite the dismissal of Dyron Daal and looked to have done enough until an injury-time goal sent them home with nothing. One thing-s for sure, they-ll need to remain focussed until the final whistle this Friday against an exciting young team that struck three times in the last 13 minutes on Saturday night.
Mariners arrive in Townsville absolutely buzzing after that glorious evening at Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday, where they were roared on by a partisan Yellow Army.
There were certainly no signs of rust from a team playing only their third game in 29 days as, in this home-away-from home match, goals for Royston Griffiths, Matt Simon, Adam Kwasnik and Matthew Lewis – as well as a Perth own goal – contributed to their biggest ever Hyundai A-League win.
The thumping was especially pleasing for Lewis, who struck his first Hyundai A-League goal as the clock ticked down, and for Michael McGlinchey, who put in a thrilling display and was perpetually the thorn in Perth-s side.
A big win like this has been on the cards for a while, and the romp boosted Mariner-s goal-difference no end. Before the game they had only managed a fairly meagre nine goals in ten games. Now the floodgates have opened, will the goals will continue to flow?
While the game at Sydney Football Stadium was officially a home match for the Central Coast side, Graham Arnold will be hoping that such a fine performance away from the Bluetongue will inspire his squad to improve their form on the road.
They haven-t won any of their previous four away games, and will record their second five-match winless away streak in less than 12 months if they lose this weekend. If they are going to push for honours at the end of the season, they-ll need to start picking up wins on their travels. A game against a struggling North Queensland Fury side might present the perfect opportunity to do just that.
Fury fans, Mariners are on cloud nine after their unbelievable performance against Perth last week. Its time to drag them back to earth with a bump as Franz Straka-s team look to get their own season back on track. Get along to Dairy Farmers Stadium and turn it into a sea of green!
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