Saturday’s second A-League Round 23 match is between Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets. The opening kick-off is set to commence at 7.45pm AEDT with the game to be played at Central Coast Stadium. The home team Central Coast Mariners are the favourites for the match. View our live scores and teams for the game between Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets.

Round: Round 23, Saturday March 15 at 7.45pm AEDT.
Stadium: Central Coast Stadium
Head to head: Played: 31, Wins: Mariners 11, Jets 9, Draws: 11
Previous encounter: Previous encounter: Mariners 3-0 Jets, January 25 2014

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Odds Comparison:

Central Coast Mariners	2.20	2.40	2.30	2.40	2.20	2.30
Draw	2.30	3.40	3.20	3.40	3.30	3.25
Newcastle Jets	3.30	2.85	3.00	2.85	3.30	3.00

All odds are subject to change. Odds listed are correct at the time of the latest update.

Preview:

The Mariners play the Jets on Saturday evening, 7.45pm at Central Coast Stadium.  Central Coast will be expected by most to win here, especially after beating the Jets 3-0 in round 16.  Being a derby, however, this will be a spirited match and any result is possible.  With the Mariners in sixth ladder position and the Jets just one behind in seventh, the season really is in the balance for both sides.

Central Coast will be high in confidence after beating Japanese giants Sanfrecce Hiroshima mid-week, and will want to go on from this and make something positive from their A-League season.  It also looks like the Jets squad is not exactly the most harmonious at the moment, with Taylor Regan and Mark Birighitti having a disagreement during training during the week.

Teams:

Central Coast Mariners FC Squad:
1.Justin PASFIELD (Gk), 3.Joshua ROSE, 4.Marcel SEIP, 5.Zachary ANDERSON, 7.John HUTCHINSON (C), 8.Nick MONTGOMERY, 9.Mitchell DUKE, 11.Nick FITZGERALD, 12.Liam REDDY (gk), 15.Storm ROUX, 17.Anthony CACERES, 19.Matt SIMON, 20.Bernie IBINI, 21.Mile STERJOVSKI, 25.Eddy BOSNAR, 26.Kim SEUNG-YONG, 27.Matt SIM, 28.Glen TRIFIRO
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 3.Joshua ROSE (returns from injury), 15.Storm ROUX (returns from international duty), 25.Eddy BOSNAR (returns from injury)
Outs: 6.Brent GRIFFITHS (omitted)
Unavailable: 10.Marcos FLORES (knee – season), 13.Hayden MORTON (thigh – 1 week), 14.Michael MCGLINCHEY (on loan – Vegalta Sendai), 18.Michael NEILL (knee – season), 23.Adam KWASNIK (knee – season)

Newcastle Jets squad:
1.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk), 4.Kew JALIENS, 5.Ben KANTAROVSKI, 6.Zenon CARAVELLA, 7.Andrew HOOLE, 8.Ruben ZADKOVICH (c), 9.Emile HESKEY, 11.Craig GOODWIN, 13.Joey GIBBS, 14.Josh MITCHELL, 15.Josh BRILLANTE, 17.James VIRGILI, 20.Ben KENNEDY (gk), 21.Sam GALLAWAY, 22.Adam TAGGART, 23.David CARNEY, 24.Mitch OXBORROW, 29.Joel GRIFFITHS
**Two to be omitted**
Ins: 17.James VIRGILI (promoted), 29.Joel GRIFFITHS (returns from injury)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 2.Scott NEVILLE (knee injury – long term), 25.Mitch COOPER (knee injury – long term)

In the news:

Sydney FC’s gripping derby win over the Wanderers was undoubtedly one of the high points of the Sky Blues’ season so far.

It has given the club’s fans some long-awaited bragging rights in the Harbour City and restored the belief they are headed for a return to finals football this season.

But if their form from the start of 2014 is anything to go by, the Sky Blues could been heading for a fall this weekend.

Frank Farina’s side have had a tendency this year to follow up a strong effort with a rather disappointing one. A lot of the time it’s been a positive step followed by a giant leap backwards.

The stats tell some of the story. From the turn of the year, Sydney have played 10 matches, winning four, losing five and drawing the other one against Adelaide.

While it hasn’t quite been from brilliant to basket-case and back, you get the picture.

A perfect example of their inconsistency came in the space of five days back in January.

The Sky Blues crushed the Melbourne Victory 5-0 on their home soil on Australia Day before then backing it up with a loss to the (then) last-placed 10-man Heart the following week.

So does that mean Sydney are set for more heartache against the Roar on Friday night?

The easy answer would be yes considering their head-to-head record against the men from Brisbane as well as previous matches this season.

The Sky Blues have been on the end of two heavy defeats to the Roar already this campaign, a 4-0 drubbing away in round 2, followed by a 5-2 thrashing at Allianz Stadium on Boxing Day.

“They’ve certainly had the wood on us this year,” Farina said of the Roar this week.

“There’s no hiding from the fact they’ve scored nine goals against us and beaten us twice…and deservedly so.

“They are a good side when they are on song. But we’ve improved gradually.

“With the pressure and importance of the games coming up for us, there’s no pressure on them as they are sitting comfortably at the top.

“That (pressure) tends to bring the best out of us. We don’t have many runs on the board with them this year but we’re looking to get out there and get the win.”

Luckily for the Sky Blues there are reasons why things could be different this time around.

The return of Terry Antonis in the last month and the addition of hard-as-nails defender Sasa Ognenovski has improved their overall performances.

No major new injury concerns means Farina has also had a fairly settled line-up recently unlike earlier in the campaign. And there’s nothing like a derby win to lift morale and confidence amongst the playing group.

“It helps but I don’t think it prepares you for when you cross the white line and go on the park,” Farina said of the 3-1 win over the Wanderers.

“It puts a spring in the step of the players. But the big games keep coming. The players realise the importance of these last five games coming into finals.

“They know what’s at stake and hopefully again they will be ‘up’. I’ve got no issues they will be anything but ready.”

They will need to be on Friday night or it could be another case of one step forward followed by two steps back.

Source: www.footballaustralia.com.au