Melbourne Victory looks to continue its good run of form when it visits the Central Coast Mariners in the Hyundai A-League on Saturday.
Summary
Victory is on a four-match unbeaten run after recording a 2-1 win over Sydney FC on Australia Day.
It sits second on the table, a point clear of the Sky Blues and four adrift of league leader Perth Glory.
Victory has collected 10 points from a possible 12, completing a busy January with a good run of results.
Ola Toivonen, 32, scored his 10th league goal for the club, the Swedish striker becoming the quickest to reach that mark for Victory.
James Troisi netted in the second half for his fourth of the campaign and third in four matches.
Victory delivered a good display against the Sky Blues despite again being without the likes of Keisuke Honda and Georg Niedermeier.
It makes the trip to Gosford on Saturday, with the Mariners sitting bottom of the table.
Victory is unbeaten in its past 16 games against Central Coast, a run dating back to 2013.
Player in focus
What they said
“We identified the games and what we wanted to achieve (in January) and we came pretty close. We weren’t able to rotate a lot of players with injuries so the boys that have had to keep playing did an amazing job and the guys that were coming back and coming in were making big impacts so it was tough, but if you judge it on points, we did quite well.” – Victory stalwart Leigh Broxham.
Last time
Hyundai A-League 2018/19 Round 4
Melbourne Victory 4-1 Central Coast Mariners
Sunday, November 11, 2018
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Victory produced an electric first half in its win over the Mariners early in the season.
Honda, Troisi and Corey Brown were on the scoresheet before Josh Hope sealed Victory’s win late after Mario Shabow had pulled a goal back.
As it stands
Head to head
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
Round 4, 2017/18: Mariners 1-1 Victory at Central Coast Stadium
Round 27, 2016/17: Victory 1-0 Mariners at AAMI Park
Match details
Central Coast Mariners v Melbourne Victory
Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Kick-off: 5.35pm AEDT
Melbourne Victory squad: 1.Matt ACTON (GK), 2.Storm ROUX, 3.Corey BROWN, 5.Georg NIEDERMEIER, 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 7.Kenny ATHIU, 8.Terry ANTONIS, 9.Kosta BARBAROUSES, 10.James TROISI, 11.Ola TOIVONEN, 13.Birkan KIRDAR, 14.Tommy DENG, 15.Raul BAENA, 16.Josh HOPE, 19.Rahmat AKBARI, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (GK), 21.Carl VALERI (C), 24.Elvis KAMSOBA, 25.Anthony LESIOTIS
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 5. Georg Niedermeier (promoted) 19. Rahmat Akbari (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: Jai INGHAM (quad – TBC), Keisuke HONDA (Hamstring – 1 week)