Adelaide United Head Coach, Carl Veart, says the momentum United generated through its 2-0 win over Wellington Phoenix on Friday night will push his team ahead of their meeting with Central Coast Mariners.
A brace from Reds Captain, Craig Goodwin, helped Veart’s side advance through an Elimination Final past the travelling Nix, setting up a mouth-watering two-legged Semi Final bout with the Mariners.
This season, Adelaide are winless against their Semi Final opponents, however Veart has made it known his team have learned from their previous encounters with Central Coast and go into the matches with complete confidence and belief.
Veart said:
“We’re going to have belief in ourselves.
“We’ve had a great season this year (and) you got to remember that we finished third and that’s the best finish for seven years the club has had.
“And we played some great football this year, so we’re going to back ourselves.
“You both play a home game, so I don’t think there’s any advantage now because they the away goals don’t count double, so there’s no real advantage (playing home first versus away first).
“There’s a week between the games, s it’ll be interesting to see how (Central Coast) go with a week off.
“Sometimes it can disrupt your momentum.
“We’ve played tonight so we’ve got some good form from tonight and we’ll go in very confident next week.
“(My players) were very disappointed with their performance last week (against Central Coast) and we’ve had a good response in training this week.
“We had a good look at that game and where we let ourselves down, so I’m sure next week the players will be really focused and want to show that they are much better than what they were last week.”
Match details:
Isuzu UTE A-League 2022/23 Season – Semi Final (First Leg)
Adelaide United vs Central Coast Mariners
Saturday, 13 May 2023, Kick-off: 7:15pm (ACST)
Coopers Stadium
Isuzu UTE A-League 2022/23 Season – Semi Final (Second Leg)
Central Coast Mariners vs Adelaide United
Saturday, 20 May 2023, Kick-off: 7:15pm (ACST)
Central Coast Stadium
