R13 vs Central Coast Mariners | Sat 12 Jan | 7.35pm | Westpac | #KidsGoFree

Poor old Mariners. They absolutely crushed us first half, lost the game due to two stupid defensive errors.

Well earned rest time for the Nix now before MV away. Game today shows we are inevitably going to get thumped a few more times this season. Better teams wont let us off the hook.

Well, I suppose this is what happens when you start a game with no midfielders, instead having a defender and Mitch Nichols filling in. Actually I only watched the first 10 minutes but Jesus wept Nichols was pants.

Rudan better pick up at least one other midfielder this transfer window.

Credit to the boys for coming back - and shame on the CCM defender who got himself sent and should probably get all the blame for his team losing.

Happy to be proven wrong. Second hard fought win, when not playing well, in less than a week. Have they turned a corner mentally as a team?

To be fair their first goal was a pen from a stupid defensive error as well.

Nicholas is a midfielder...(though a poor one tonight), as is Kopa. 

I think that we've established that Kopa does an excellent job at centre-half but is pants in the midfield.

The pens were the two goals I mean't. A dumb foul from a tyro defender and another from an experienced player who should know better. Kind of thing we have been doing for the last 3 seasons!

edit: sorry, just realised you mean't the Taylor foul for their pen. As you were.

That was ok I suppose

my love for Krishna is becoming borderline illegal. He was unplayable for about twenty minutes at the start of that half

Nichols is washed.

Conceded 4 goals in one and a half games. Rudan must have been fuming at half time. Came out with better intensity 2nd half. fantastic comeback. But feels a little like we got out of jail there. 

Bit concerning that Kurto seemed hesitant about whether to come off his line or not under pressure in 1st half.

But awesome result. 8 games undefeated.. Waahoo.

Given the Nix history that's a great win. How often do the y win from behind, never mind 2 down. Just exemplifies the belief and attitude Rudan has installed. But just sell Nichols to Takapuna, 3 Kings or some other NRFL club with more money than sense and get an actual footballer instead

Fenton played well tonight, up and down the flank all night.  Just checked the stats, 97% pass accuracy 5 crosses 1 chance created.  can't ask for more.

Sum up the performance Mark.

He was a star, we were vulnerable in midfield and he and Cacace were brilliant 

It's on.

Happy with the win, but very hard fought. Good work by CCM too, despite the final result. They need to look at how they played in that first half and apply that as a blueprint for the rest of the season, that will only breed a bit of self belief. 

We are still a team with a lot to work on, but the difference this season is that we are grinding out results that in years gone by, we would have lost. It says a lot about our mentality - Going toe to toe with Victory in Melbourne, grinding out a draw in Adelaide and now showing that we can come from behind and get a result. I still think we're not used to the 'favourites' tag and that we'd rather play the underdog.

Really need to work on the midfield, as we've been riding our luck, and as a Nix supporter, you always know that sooner or later that luck is eventually going to run out and we'll get an absolute pummelling. Tonight, Nichols was not the answer, Kopczynski is a makeshift at best and is far better suited to a role in the defence (ie - in place of Doyle). I'm glad Rufer will be back next week, and he should slot straight back in to the starting XI but Rudan has got a bit of work to do in that midfield if he's going to keep this run of results going.

A great result but a lot to learn from this game,that was a team on it's knees and we only beat them by a goal,we won't get away with that against the likes of Victory or Sydney,Singh will have to do far better,Taylor's mind wasn't there for the first 30 minutes,Nichol's is going backwards and shouldn't be considered for a for a starting place and I thought both Doyle and Cacace struggled tonight,Rudan can't be anything other than thoroughly pissed off  with that first half display and will be desperate to get Rufer and Mandi back in there asap as we need more ugly in the mid-field.
Positives for me were Fenton and the Sheriff who looks a class act along with Krishna who simply never gives up,Burgess is a fantastic sub  as well,anyway onwards and upwards in Rudan we trust!

Was expecting a 'SACK RUDAN' post from ya to be fair 

As for Nicols, he just isn’t as good as we wanted so with both Kopa and Nichols signed as midfielders but not good enough there - means we have no quality depth as backup.

I vote Totori. No Toto no party

Gaskerin.

could have been 3-0. If we want to go all the way we need a left fullback. Doyle does not come to easy intercepts and gives the ball away. We are severely weak on the left due to Doyle

Ok in no particular order:
1. Do we have a Rudan YF tee? If not we must do one right away - he's the great architect of our universe. He has turned this team from a bunch of boys into men. They will sell like hot cakes!
2. The club is heading in the right direction - screw the dance cam, bring on the safe smoke and prize for breaking 10k pax BUT please le clarify if you need to be sitting in your seat or hold the ticket for the right seat to claim the price. Most people don't sit in their assigned seats and I happened to be very close to the winner and the last 15' of the game were utterly ruined by a sea of people moving about and blocking everyone's view.
3. How on earth was that 1st penalty given?
4. Great to the the Sheriff killing it once more. He was actually pretty average after the 3rd goal... It's almost like he's our come back man! Keep him as an impact player as long as you can!

Switch a few words and references around and I'm sure you'd be referring to the NRL Warriors. I've just had a season of them and am now in 'Nix mode. It's all about winning - and winning the ones you're expected to win - actually!

Bring on Ruden's press conference, I'm watching it from start to finish, just like last week. I haven't been this into it since Dadi scored that clincher in our last finals win.

Damn we were lucky to win that game. CCM came out firing and prob would have won it if not for the red card. Well done Nix.

So as I was walking up to the stadium I heard a little kid crying to his dad "we're gonna get smashed", at half time I was ready to find and metaphorically kill that kid for jinxing us.

Low and behold the mighty comeback.

Quick thoughts -

- I think the first 30 mins of that game show how important Rufer and Mandi are, the wing backs couldnt settle and the front three couldnt do anything. No press, pressed off the ball.

- Somewhere towards the end of the first half, I could sense, like  eureka moment, we're going to score. It seemed really, really obvious, it was like CCM went 2-0 up and they were spent.

- half time, the usual moans in the crowd, the slight anxiety about the ghost of Nix past. My fav being "we get a decent crowd and tgis happens, typical" For me at the start of the game Im usually really focused on the game, but I think we wanted to start the party a bit early (and rightly so) without realizing there was a game of football on.

- what did Mark do to the players at half time, all of a sudden were playing exactly as we've been expecting us to play. Instant impact from the Sheriff, Krishna and Singh woke up, all of a sudden our midfield and wingbacks were dominating the ball.

- 2-1, yay, but work to do

- 2-2 yay, okay lets get one more

- 3-2 euphoria. How in the hell did we just manage to claw black from 2-0 down. Nil-nil with 10 men was impressive, retaking the lead against WSW was impressive, but coming back like that, that's the hallmark of champions. What the hell has Mark done to these guys.

- and for the extra 6000 fans there, what a way to show them how fan this team has come

Congrats to Durante on 300 games. Congrats to Krishna on adding to his tally. Congrats to Williams for coming up with the winner yet again. Congrats to Mark Rudan. 

Heads down and focus, one game at a time... one game at a time.

Come on Phoenix!!

we played really badly after we scored the third, but I think you cN put that down to not having a midfield. 

Great drama. 

Somehow we managed to get that. 

We were right to be wary of CCM- there should be no guaranteed games in a salary capped league. 

Well done boys and club record unbeaten run yeh?

wow - what a rush that was. Nichols has done everything he can to keep himself off the park going forward. Get Rufer and Mandi back ASAP. Start Cillian! he has made instant impact everytime! He leads the front line brilliantly.

Tremendous chutzpah!

General fatigue too.

We had the man advantage so should have been able to manage that?

What a comeback and crucially. The nix delivered in front of a big crowd. Hopefully the next will be bigger. 

I said to my mate just before half time, Nichols would be lucky to see the second. Woeful doesn't even cover his performance. Granted the team weren't playing well at all in the first, bizarelly timid, but he was a complete waste of a jersey. 

Second half was a completely different mindset. Pumped them from the get go. What an atmosphere and a perfect evening for football. 

And maybe layers experimenting a little since we were one up and not really under pressure. 

Got out of jail there, but good enough to do it.  Except for the great hole in the middle without Mandi and Rufer we aren't a bad football side.

Brilliant work by Rudan to change the set up at half time.  Nicholls will be crushed.  The young WBs ran almost all day again.  Cillian looked very good again for the most part.  Krishna worked hard while getting some pretty heavy marking.  Williams isn't quite a genius but he has some pace, can bury an opportunity with class and works very hard.  

D was caught out badly a couple of times, partly due to Dura overplaying his hand, and we still look at bit vulnerable for corners, but otherwise mostly solid again.  

At 3-2 with time to score again we shut up shop - tells me the boys were pretty tired.  Great character to pull this one back with weary legs.

Looking forward to see what we can do freshened up a bit in a week and back to a full squad.

Excited and noisy crowd again after half time.  Good to see.  Agree the Cash for the Gate was distracting, but hey, we can't really complain about the club putting up $30k for some punter to win.  Hope he comes back.  

Three very hard fought games in 8 days, 2 of them away. I love it that we are at long last seeing a fit Nix outfit but we were noticeably struggling in the last 15 minutes.

next two home games are going to be tough, two in a week.

There has been a few messy games in a row, but while we have lots to work on, at least we are observing that while getting points. 

Got my partner down for a game for the first time, was looking like the last after that first half.  Should be able to get her down for more now :) 

God this season feels great after a few stinkers.