Central Coast captain Nick Montgomery says the Mariners must fix their concentration levels if they’re to become a consistent threat this season.
The visitors were regularly made to pay for their own turnovers as a rampant Melbourne Victory, led by Fahid Ben Khalfallah and Marco Rojas, ran out 4-1 winners at AAMI Park on Wednesday night.
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Montgomery criticised the basic mistakes as hampering his side’s progress.
“You can’t give quality players like that a sniff on goal because they’ll punish you,” the experienced midfielder told ABC Grandstand.
“There is no doubt we can get results but unless we concentrate for 90 minutes and eradicate those individual errors we’re not going to win games. It’s as simple as that.
“It doesn’t matter how much you’ve got going forward, if three straight balls are going to go straight through the centre of the park and through on goal – which has happened too many times this season – then we’re going to find it difficult.”
The ninth-placed Mariners have now lost four straight matches, conceding 13 goals and scoring just three in that time.
Despite their worrying form, Montgomery believes his side should have no trouble lifting for Saturday night’s showpiece clash at home to Melbourne City.
“Melbourne City are a great side with some great players but we’re at home, New Year’s Eve, full crowd and we’ve got to go out and put a show on,” the 35-year-old said.
“If we don’t give silly mistakes away and silly balls (away) in midfield or at the back we can win games.”
