Ahead of the biggest game in charge of Newcastle, coach Arthur Papas is imploring his troops to seize their opportunity and roll local rivals Central Coast in Saturday’s F3 Derby at McDonald Jones Stadium.
While the Mariners are looking to cut a three-point gap to Adelaide United in the race for second on the A-League Men ladder, the stakes are even higher for the Jets as they fight to stay in the hunt for finals.
They’ll need results to go their way to cut their own three-point gap to sixth, but Papas says there is only one equation he is thinking about – two games, six points.
“You couldn’t probably script it any better, we’d prefer to have a few extra points in the bank but ultimately with two games to go we control what happens,” he said.
“It’s going to be a very difficult match, they’re a good team, they’ve done really well and it’s not going to be an easy match.
“It doesn’t matter where you are on the ladder or what the context is if it’s a derby match.
“They’re in a strong position and it’s our job now to make sure when they come here we make it a very difficult place for them.”
Newcastle snapped a six-game winless run with a 2-1 triumph against Macarthur FC last time out, and simply must beat the Mariners to set up a crunch encounter with sixth-ranked Sydney FC next weekend.
“We feel like (finals) started probably about two or three weeks back, some mixed results culminating in a really good result last week and a really good performance,” Papas said.
“If you told us when I walked through the door two years ago, we were almost 20 points off being a top-six team coming into the season, we’ve got two rounds to go with three points outside the six.
“There’s been a lot of progress, but ultimately we want to be playing finals football.”
Central Coast will look to continue the form that saw them push premiers Melbourne City to a 1-1 draw last weekend, a performance level that would challenge most sides in the league should they recreate it.
“They’re fighting for their lives and we want to end the season strong, good momentum going into the finals,” Mariners coach Nick Montgomery said.
“We’re fighting for that home final and second spot is still up for grabs so it’s a big game.
“It’s for the fans as well, but then it’s no different than any other game, three points on the line and two teams fighting for the three points.”
