Adelaide United are adamant Central Coast aren’t a bogey side despite conceding eight goals in two losses to the Mariners this A-League Men season.
Reds defender Ben Warland says Adelaide learnt plenty from their 4-0 and 4-1 drubbings from the Mariners ahead of the first leg of their semi-finals on Saturday night.
“We have just been a little bit off our game every time we have played them,” Warland told reporters on Thursday.
“Last game, we were too deep as a back four, we let the lines get too far apart.
“And they have got some good players so we got a bit isolated at times and they capitalised and scored some pretty good goals.
“But we have worked a lot on that … there were a lot of learnings from those games.
“We can’t be off our game at all … we need to have a good home performance, a good lead going into the away game.
“So (they’re) definitely not our bogey team but we are tightening up a few things.”
Adelaide host the first semi-final leg at Coopers Stadium on Saturday night before an away fixture on May 20.
The Reds, who finished third in the regular season, enter the fixture after a 2-0 elimination final victory against Wellington Phoenix while the second-placed Mariners had the weekend off.
“We would have loved to have finished second, obviously an Asian (champions league) spot up for grabs which we let through our grasp,” Warland said.
“But we’re back in the semi-finals, two legs, no real advantage I don’t think for Central Coast.
“Obviously they have had a week off, maybe they’re a bit fresher, but we have got that continuity of games and we’re in good form at the moment.
“We kept a clean sheet, we scored goals, we had a lot of opportunities, so we’re looking to keep that up on Saturday.”
