Sunday’s A-League 2016 Round 7 match is between Newcastle Jets and Central Coast Mariners. The opening kick off is set to commence at 17:00 local time with the game to be played at McDonald Jones Stadium. The home team Newcastle Jets are the favourites for the match. View our preview and teams for the game between Newcastle Jets and Central Coast Mariners.
All derbies are special and this one is no different. Both teams desperately need a win to try and jump out of the bottom four.
The Jets will be missing injured captain Nigel Boogaard in another blow for Mark Jones’ side.
Coming off three defeats in a row, and down on numbers, Newcastle are in a tough place at the moment.
As is the problem with a few teams in the A-League, the Jets are not converting their chances and leaking them in at the other end.
Central Coast missed a great opportunity last week when they failed to see off Wellington despite the Nix missing five key players. They only managed two shots on goal while still conceding goals far too easily.
The Mariners have now conceded in 35 straight games which is a new Australia record.
A big problem is they keep going behind in matches and need to try to score the first goal to give them some momentum in matches.
KEY BATTLE: Morten Nordstrand v Mikael Tavares
Noordstrand (pictured above) missed a sitter against City last week but he’s one player who can help the Jets out of this rut.
Similarly, Tavares has been key in keeping the Mariners competitive so this will be an intriguing match-up.
Both have leadership qualities which is what will be needed in this one.
The verdict
These two sides come into this match on equal points and I don’t think they’ll be separated in this game either.
Unibet Odds: Newcastle 2.04 Draw 3.65 Central Coast 3.50
Tip: Newcastle Jets
Teams:
Newcastle Jets squad: 3.Jason HOFFMAN, 5.Ben KANTAROVSKI, 6.Steven UGARKOVIC, 7.Andrew HOOLE, 8.Mateo POLJAK, 9.Aleksandr KOKKO, 10.Wayne BROWN, 11.Labinot HALITI, 13.Ivan VUJICA, 15.Andrew NABBOUT, 16.Nicholas COWBURN, 18.MA Leilei, 19.Morten NORDSTRAND, 20.Jack DUNCAN (gk), 23.Devante CLUT, 28.Johnny KOUTROUMBIS, 30.Pierce CLARK (gk).
Central Coast Mariners squad: 1.Ivan NECEVSKI (gk), 2.Storm ROUX, 3.Scott GALLOWAY, 5.Harry ASCROFT, 6.Blake POWELL, 7.Fabio FERREIRA, 8.Nick MONTGOMERY (c), 9.Roy O”DONOVAN, 10.Mickael TAVARES, 11.Connor PAIN, 12.Trent BUHAGIAR, 13.Kwabena APPIAH, 14.Adam BERRY, 16.Liam ROSE, 17.Josh BINGHAM, 20.Paul IZZO (gk), 21.Michael NEILL, 22.Jake McGING.
