Josh Rose is adamant his side must take their chances against Perth.
Central Coast Mariners defender Josh Rose knows the dangers Perth Glory present, he knows this week, he and his teammates must take their chances in front of goal, or risk their season ending on a sour note at the hands of a rampant Perth Glory.
While the Mariners were unable to capitalise on their periods of dominance against the Roar last week, the Glory managed to make sure they took theirs in a 3-2 victory over the Phoenix, and while they have never beaten the Mariners at Bluetongue, Rose believes that will count for little come Saturday.
“Obviously it-s a nice statistic to know, but when we run out onto the field in games like this, records tend to go out the window and you have to play the game on its merit,” Rose said.
“You look at Perth Glory, they are so dangerous and have plenty of attacking options, Andrezinho has hit a bit of form, Smeltz is obviously in great form and Travis Dodd and McGarry have chimed in. They have threats all over the park, but in saying that we have confidence in our front boys as well and I-m sure Arnie (Graham Arnold) wouldn-t play them if he didn-t have confidence in them.
“Last week… as players we were all quite disappointed but Arnie stayed positive and made us stay positive. He was the first to say ‘you boys did well- and he proved to us in video during the week that we still played some good football but it just wasn-t happening for us in front of goals.
“We-re confident that we-re playing good football and hopefully this week it will happen for us all over the park.
“From the back and the midfield we just have to create those chances for the boys and they have to take them.”
One man who appears capable of taking those chances is Bernie Ibini-Isei. The young striker has troubled the Perth defence this season, scoring twice for the Mariners.
According to Rose, it-s little surprise, Ibini-s pace is a huge asset, especially against the likes of Bas van den Brink and Dean Heffernan.
“I think Bernie-s pace troubles Perth a bit, but I-m not sure what Arnie is going to go with up front. He has worked on a few different things this week, so I-m sure whoever gets the nod will give their all.”
But will their all be good enough?
At the other end, Rose and his fellow defenders have to deal with the likes of Shane Smeltz, Billy Mehmet and the man who has given them a heap of trouble this year Travis Dodd.
Rose adamant that focussing on just one of that triumvirate would ultimately be the Mariners downfall.
“You don-t want to put too much focus on one individual because then you can get hurt by another one, the thing we have done so well all year is work as a unit and we have to do that again.”
If the Mariners downfall does come early it will be yet another chance at winning the grand final gone and while Rose admits it would be nice to finally win on the final day of the year for the players, it would be even better to give their fans two more wins and that elusive grand final victory.
“It-s for the fans that we want to do it more than anything. The coast is a community based team and we see the same fans at the game week in week out and we just want to do it for them,” he said.
Whether or not they get that opportunity will be determined on Saturday night at Bluetongue, when they put their destiny on the line against Perth Glory.
