Central Coast will be counting on facing a fatigued Brisbane side in the second leg of their Hyundai A-League major semi after the Roar took a 2-0 advantage from the opening tie at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Roar started and closed as the superior side, grinding through a flat middle period to finish with one foot into the season decider.
But the Mariners are hoping their arch-rivals will be a more sedate opponent in the second leg, after they return from a midweek dash to Korea for what will be a gruelling Asian Champions League clash with Ulsan Hyundai.
Central Coast have an ACL match of their own to contend with, but are counting on the advantage of staying at home for both their Tuesday night match and the Sunday clash with Brisbane.
“They’ve got a huge schedule in front of them now with all the travel to South Korea and all that, and we go back to Bluetongue and see how they pull up when they arrive,” said Arnold.
“Everything that is going on at the moment with the ACL and the A-League is great and it’s exciting, but they’re going to get tired.”
“You could see some of the mistakes players were making were down to fatigue and not down to technique or things like that.”
“It depends how good their travel is. It’s a tough trip… you arrive back on Friday morning in a total different time and total different temperature.”
“We’ve got 24 hours more recovery than them and a lot less travel, so hopefully we can use that to our advantage.”
The Premiers Plate winners were stretched and shredded in the opening 10 and seemed perpetually in defence against the possession-orientated Roar, but Arnold was satisfied they had their tactics right.
Pacey young attacker Bernie Ibini had been preferred to John Sutton as the Mariners’ spearhead, and he showed the worth of his selection, getting behind the Brisbane line on multiple occasions and providing the visitors with their only real threat.
“I felt in the second half the first 20 minutes we were very good and then we had a chance to change the whole game in the second half… the difference between us tonight was that they took their chances,” said Arnold.
“I thought tonight the system worked perfect… I thought that was the best we’ve passed the ball against Brisbane and worked the ball around.
“Young Bernie in the first half was dangerous, getting in behind. If a couple of balls bounced a bit different for him it could have been a completely different story.”
