Remember Orlando Engelaar’s incredible halfway strike for Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park? Incredibly, the Dutchman’s iconic A-Leagues strike came in Central Coast Mariners’ most recent win in Victoria.
Nick Montgomery was a player the last time Mariners won in the state; he’s now the club’s head coach – and he believes a trip to face struggling Melbourne Victory is the perfect time to snap a winless run extending back to 2014.
The third-placed Mariners take on bottom-placed Victory at the Melbourne venue on Sunday, determined to flip recent history and remain in the hunt for an A-League Men top-two spot.
December’s 1-0 loss to Melbourne City extended the Mariners’ winless run in Victoria to 27 games (22 losses and five draws).
The Mariners’ last win in Victoria came against Melbourne Heart on March 23, 2014. Engelaar opened the scoring with one of the great A-Leagues goals, before Kim Seung-Yong and Bernie Ibini struck for the Mariners in a 2-1 win on the road.
“AAMI Park’s not been a great place for the club,” Montgomery said, in the lead-up to his side’s trip to face Victory on Sunday, March 19.
“I can’t talk on the previous coaches – I went there twice last season.
“We should have won one game against Melbourne City, that was taken out of our hands by officiating on the day I should say, and we unfortunately lost 1-0 last-minute against Victory last season in the (Australia) Cup final.
“It’s definitely something that we want to break and I think 2014 was the last time we won there and I think I played in that game. So I know what it’s like to play there and win.
“It’s not a hoodoo, it’s just we’ve got to go there full of belief and we believe we can go there and get a result.”
Victory are nine points outside the top six with a loss likely to effectively end a season that is already on life support.
Montgomery was wary of Tony Popovic’s side proving a potential banana skin.
“They’re a good team, they’ve got one of the biggest budgets in the competition, one of the most experienced managers,” he said.
“They’re not having a season as Melbourne Victory would like to have but they’ve got some good players and in a lot of games they’ve been unlucky, they’ve probably been the better team and not come away with the result but that’s football.
“We’ll go there full of confidence and full of belief that we can go there and get a result.”
The Mariners will welcome back Nectar Triantis from youth international duties while Brian Kaltak and Moresche return from suspension, but Jacob Farrell (tonsillitis) is sidelined.
