Central Coast Mariners boss Lawrie McKinna is eagerly awaiting his side’s top of the table Hyundai A-League clash against the Melbourne Victory at the Telstra Dome on Friday night.
Melbourne currently sits three points clear on the A-League table, but Central Coast can claim that spot if they defeat the pacesetters in the opening match of Round 12 this weekend.
But considering the fact that the Mariners have only defeated the Victory once in the past two seasons, McKinna knows that it is going to be a tough ask to travel to Melbourne and come home with all three points.
“Last Saturday (Central Coast defeated Adelaide 3-0) was a great morale booster going into Friday night – the top two teams to open the round up and it’ll be a big crowd at the Telstra Dome and the boys have been buzzing this week at training,” McKinna said.
“We’re not going to be over confident, because we never are, we know it’s going to be a hard game and we’re going to have to be on top of ours to get anything out of it.”
McKinna has named an unchanged line-up to the one that was impressive in defeating Adelaide United last week, with midfielder Mile Jedinak the only doubtful starter.
Jedinak was an unused substitute in the Socceroos 1-0 victory over Bahrain on Thursday morning and will arrive in Melbourne on Friday to join the team.
Fellow midfielder Andre Gumprecht has been placed on standby should Jedinak not recover in time, but McKinna is hopeful that his star playmaker will be able to start the match.
“They’re at full strength, whereas for us, hopefully Jedinak is back from overseas to take part, but whatever team we put on the park will be up for the game on Friday,” McKinna said.
