Central Coast returns to Gosford for the first time in six weeks on Friday night and coach Lawrie McKinna and his players cannot wait.
It has been a horror run of away matches for the Mariners with Perth’s visit to Bluetongue Stadium the first Hyundai A-League match at the club’s home base since early October.
Despite being on the road for so long the club has performed brilliantly recently and will be gunning for a rare hat-trick of wins against Perth.
Outstanding away victories against Melbourne and North Queensland have the Mariners in a confident mood.
The team is the form team of the Hyundai A-League and desperate to keep its winning run going against Perth.
“We’ve had three wins, a draw and only one loss in five consecutive matches away, it’s been a great effort by the lads,” McKinna said.
“But it’s been hard. We’ve done a lot of travelling and got some great results.”
“Now we want to come home and put in a good performance in front of our own fans.”
McKinna has guided the club to two Hyundai A-League grand final appearances but he rates his current squad as the best in the club’s successful history.
The inclusion of former Celtic player Michael McGlinchey and Nottingham Forest defender Chris Doig has added enormous depth to the squad.
Nicky Travis and Matt Crowell have also made an impact in their first seasons with the club and established players like captain Alex Wilkinson and midfielder John Hutchinson have also raised their games.
“We’ve been unlucky to lose two grand finals,” McKinna said.
“This year we want to go all the way, I think we’ve got the team to do it.”
