Melbourne Victory visits the Central Coast Mariners seeking to build on a promising run of form in the Hyundai A-League.
Summary
Victory has produced two of its best performances of the season in its past two matches, beating City and the Newcastle Jets.
It makes the trip to Gosford having lost just one of its past five while collecting 10 points in that period.
Victory cruised past the Jets at AAMI Park as Robbie Kruse continued to star.
Kruse scored the opener before having a hand in goals from Migjen Basha – his first for the club – and Andrew Nabbout in the 4-0 win.
Victory delivered a fine attacking display in the absence of Ola Toivonen, with the captain out suspended.
The clean sheet also saw Victory goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas, who was relatively untroubled during the win over the Jets, set a club record.
Thomas moved onto 28 Hyundai A-League clean sheets for Victory, surpassing Michael Theo’s mark of 27.
Nabbout, meanwhile, is in line to make his 50th Hyundai A-League appearance for Victory against the Mariners.
Victory is unbeaten in its past 18 matches against Central Coast, a run which started in 2013.
Player in focus
What they said
“Definitely (can go on a bit of a run), especially after the Derby win, that definitely boosted our spirits and then now getting a big win, 4-0, I feel like we can definitely get on a roll, beat Central Coast and keep winning hopefully.” – Victory’s Anthony Lesiotis.
“Obviously coming off the back of a loss is always difficult. We’re nearly halfway through the season, we need to start getting wins on the board and it’s always nice to play at home in front of your home crowd so we’ll be looking to put on a good performance for the fans and getting the three points.” – Mariners forward Matt Simon.
Last time
Hyundai A-League 2018/19 Round 25
Melbourne Victory 2-1 Central Coast Mariners
Sunday, April 14, 2019
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Victory overcame the Mariners in their meeting late last season.
Matt Simon’s penalty cancelled out Toivonen’s opener before Georg Niedermeier scored a 79th-minute winner.
As it stands
Head to head
Round 25, 2018/19: Victory 2-1 Mariners at AAMI Park
Round 17, 2018/19: Mariners 2-3 Victory at Central Coast Stadium
Round 4, 2018/19: Victory 4-1 Mariners at AAMI Park
Round 23, 2017/18: Victory 5-2 Mariners at AAMI Park
Round 14, 2017/18: Victory 1-1 Mariners at GMHBA Stadium
Match details
Central Coast Mariners v Melbourne Victory
Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Sunday, January 12, 2020
Kick-off: 6.00pm AEDT
Melbourne Victory squad: 2.Storm ROUX, 3.Corey BROWN, 4.James DONACHIE, 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 7.Kenny ATHIU, 8.Jakob POULSEN, 9.Andrew NABBOUT, 10.Robbie KRUSE, 11.Ola TOIVONEN, 16.Josh HOPE, 17.Elvis KAMSOBA, 18.Migjen BASHA, 19.Ben CARRIGAN, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (gk), 21.Adama TRAORE, 22.Kristijan DOBRAS, 24.Anthony LESIOTIS, 25.Brandon LAUTON, 26.Jay BARNETT, 50.Brendan WHITE (gk)
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 11.Ola TOIVONEN (return from suspension), 19.Ben CARRIGAN (promoted), 25.Brandon LAUTON (promoted)
Outs: 5.Tim HOOGLAND (injured)
Unavailable: 1.Matt ACTON (shoulder), 14.Thomas DENG (international duty)
