Ecstatic Central Coast coach Graham Arnold described his side’s clinical 2-0 defeat of arch-rivals Newcastle at Gosford as a ‘sensational performance.’
Ecstatic Central Coast coach Graham Arnold described his side’s clinical 2-0 defeat of arch-rivals Newcastle at Gosford as a “sensational performance”.
The victory at Bluetongue Stadium means the Mariners have moved to equal top of the Hyundai A-League and now gone seven games unbeaten, including four wins in succession.
The last time the Mariners tasted defeat was against Newcastle in week three when the Jets scored a 1-0 victory.
Saturday night’s win is the perfect preparation for the Mariners top of the table clash against the Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.
“It was a sensational performance on a difficult pitch,” Arnold said.
“To play football like we did was excellent. Conditions weren’t easy but we put in a very good performance.”
“It was very good but we’re not getting carried away, we’re only 10 games into the season. There’s a long way to go.”
In a warning to rivals teams Arnold believes his team has plenty of improvement left in them.
“We’re building and will need to keep getting better,” Arnold said.
Frustrated Newcastle coach Gary Van Egmond said his team looked flat for long periods.
“The first 20 or 25 minutes were not too bad, we started pretty brightly,” he said.
“Then we started to drop towards the end of the first half and we didn’t come out with a great deal of vigour in the second half.”
“It’s a mental thing. At the moment we’re just inconsistent, the goal is to keep getting better.”
Jets captain Jobe Wheelhouse said his team must be able to turn in back to back good performances to have any hope of challenging the leading contenders.
“At the moment it is one good game and then one not so good, we need to get that out of our system,” Wheelhouse said.
