WPM R18 vs Central Coast Mariners | Fri 24th Feb | 9:45pm | SS7

CCM currently second but on a bit of a slide atm, 1 win + 2 draws + 2 losses in their last 5 games.

As mentioned in the Western thread, Callan Elliot is suspended for this match cuz of yellow card accumulation. 

Win and we get a chance to be second for the weekend.

Tough game against our traditional competitors.  They will be playing in front of their vocal audience. Hope for the same positive attitude from our guys, and for good unbiased refereeing. 

Sutts at RB?

Payne at RB with Wootton starting at CB seems more likely to me.

Assuming wootten is ready to start I would concur with the above. If not then Boxall to start with Laws.

Will depend I imagine if coaches think Payne's fitness is at the level required for the up & down role of RB, as opposed to the less cardio required for CB. Payne has in the past himself said, the RB role is a much tougher fitness load for him. But otherwise yes seems logical to slip him across.

Or is there some merit having both Mauragis & Sutton on the field together. Both fitter & better crossers than Payne? Nikolo & McGarry presumably will be on the left for CCM.

Mainland FC

Tough game against our traditional competitors.  They will be playing in front of their vocal audience. Hope for the same positive attitude from our guys, and for good unbiased refereeing. 

Cheap, nasty comment.
No wonder referees are leaving in droves.

harrymc55

Mainland FC

Tough game against our traditional competitors.  They will be playing in front of their vocal audience. Hope for the same positive attitude from our guys, and for good unbiased refereeing. 

Cheap, nasty comment.
No wonder referees are leaving in droves.

I think it’s fair enough. 

Refereeing decisions have influenced or been a deciding factor in a number of games. 

We’ve had 3-4 very good referees, but we’ve also seen the club take the unique situation of taking the referees to court for not applying their rules correctly. In a result which as the table gets tight could make quite a difference at the end of the season. 

I think there’s such a reverence around some players in the Aussie scene that some of them get away with an awful lot with the less experienced referees. Takes me back to Warne and umpires pre-DRS days. 

But actually apart from Shaun Evans, who’s had a bit of a mare of a season but I’ve thought was good previously, I think the way they’ve cracked down on studs up and dangerous play with increased cards has been fairly consistent and I’m happier with that. 

I much prefer referees who set a standard from kick off and every card is the same compared to those who start allowing a bit and then hand out cards like bus tickets for similar offenses and at the end of game. 

Persistent fouling to break down attacks needs to attract more cards- this too hampered us early on in games with those mythical dropped points. We’re missing Elliot and others because fouls at the end were more cards than those at the start. 

Anyway, I actually think the standard of officiating has improved and is improving, but there’s a way to go. 

But I don’t think refs get to make mistakes which affect the careers of players and coaches, and just go well tough luck. 

But yeh RB a big moment. Louis deputising against Nkololo ended his pro career. Big call coming up there. Would be a very tough position for Boxall to have as an A league introduction. 

Whos quicker out of Boxall and Wootton? because I'd go with the quicker option to cover Payne for Nkololo and McGarry.

wilbaker

Whos quicker out of Boxall and Wootton? because I'd go with the quicker option to cover Payne for Nkololo and McGarry.

McGarry had a good game the other night against Perth. Put himself about and got forward into dangerous positions. Farrell came on for the last 25 minutes and ramped it up even more. So yes Payne will really have his work cut out.

harrymc55

Mainland FC

Tough game against our traditional competitors.  They will be playing in front of their vocal audience. Hope for the same positive attitude from our guys, and for good unbiased refereeing. 

Cheap, nasty comment.
No wonder referees are leaving in droves.

‘Nasty’ comment? Perfectly reasonable thing to say in the light of countless number of halfwitted decisions that have been dished out to the Phoenix over the  years including some very recent ones.

Well, for starters, I was not particularly impressed with our player going down in the box and getting carded for simulation.  Even the Australian commentators thought that was a bit harsh, and that the decision on a foul could have gone either way and that it was worth a shout.

Mainland FC

Tough game against our traditional competitors.  They will be playing in front of their vocal audience. Hope for the same positive attitude from our guys, and for good unbiased refereeing. 

Yeah, Phoenix don't tend to get many 50/50 calls going their way - we've seen a fair few shocking decisions against us by the officials in matches... so don't blame Talay for getting really peeved off at times.
Bad refereeing decisions against one side, gives the other team a big advantage.

Before they meet this Friday, we take you back to 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 🎥🔙 @WgtnPhoenixFC vs @CCMariners. April 17 2015.

Coming tonight at 5pm AEDT on KEEPUP. #KeepUpArchive pic.twitter.com/QbnCmhk2JX

— KEEPUP (@keepupau) February 22, 2023

If anyone wants to re-live that Kenny Cunningham game.

Still get goosebumps from Cunningham's winning goal and Dewhurst's reaction to it. One of, if not our best comeback ever.

Cunny Kenningham

I do expect a great game but I am not going to try.

Can’t believe that team- Burnsy, Krishna, WeeMac, Bonevacia, Cunningham- went 6 hours without a goal! 
That’s a very handy team. 

martinb

Can’t believe that team- Burnsy, Krishna, WeeMac, Bonevacia, Cunningham- went 6 hours without a goal! 
That’s a very handy team. 

And we were still in contention for 2nd! That really was a wasted chance, stupid Asian Cup derailing Burns form.

RR

martinb

Can’t believe that team- Burnsy, Krishna, WeeMac, Bonevacia, Cunningham- went 6 hours without a goal! 
That’s a very handy team. 

And we were still in contention for 2nd! That really was a wasted chance, stupid Asian Cup derailing Burns form.

we are still a contender for second this season as well, win this game and we'll sit on 27 points with CCM and Adelaide, GD will keep us 3rd though.

Looking forward to seeing a big jump in confidence from Sasse now after his best game so far and him having a big impact on the game. CCM will be very wary of our attacking lineup.

RR

martinb

Can’t believe that team- Burnsy, Krishna, WeeMac, Bonevacia, Cunningham- went 6 hours without a goal! 
That’s a very handy team. 

And we were still in contention for 2nd! That really was a wasted chance, stupid Asian Cup derailing Burns form.

At least we made some history that season by finally making it to 1st on the ladder, albeit short-lived and with a bit of luck. I still remember watching that Roar game being so happy we were winning and knowing it would take us to 1st, then the game had to finish about 20 mins early due to how torrential the rain was in Brisbane, making things even easier for us and frustrating the Roar.

I'm repeating myself but we need to win this. We are good enough.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/131281508/wellington-phoenix-back-brazilian-yan-sasse-to-supercharge-teams-playoff-push

The Phoenix lost central midfielder Clayton Lewis to a fractured kneecap the last time they played the Mariners, in a fiery 2-1 win in Wellington that ended with a scuffle between Oli Sail and Nectarios Triantis.

Talay provided an update on Lewis’s recovery on Thursday and said he hoped to have him back for their match at home to Melbourne Victory on April 1, giving Lewis a run of five games before a potential playoff.

With right-back Callan Elliot incurring an automatic suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card against Western, the fit-again Scott Wootton will slot back in at centre-back with Tim Payne pushing out to the right.

I wonder if CCM will start McGarry, he was involved in pretty much everything against Perth but there wasn't much end product. They had better results once Farrell was on the park.

McGarry was also heavily involved in the Jets victory vs us in Rnd 3, matching up against Payne. So maybe has the wood on him.

With Jack Morgan as referee

CCM: 2 wins, 0 draws, 1 loss 

WEL: 1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss 

Triantis is away on international duty so will be Hall and Kaltak at CB both prone to the odd mistake. Gonna go with a high-scoring game 3-2 to us.

wilbaker

Triantis is away on international duty so will be Hall and Kaltak at CB both prone to the odd mistake. Gonna go with a high-scoring game 3-2 to us.

Would love us to come home with a victory, and I don’t care how we get it. Hopefully set us up nicely for the home game. 

Shame Sail won't get to rub a Nix win in Triantis's face

Fire the eff up.

fire-up-2chainz.gif 2.16 MB

Oh I'm feeling fired up all right. Gonna be a good win tonight!

We need to dominate the midfield and keep their wingbacks pinned. If not they will overload our defensive line and pick us off. Hopefully last weeks team turns up and has gained more confidence from a good win.

Fire up lads! 🔥

Hopefully Sasse carries on his good form from last week, that performance needs to be the precedent for him. He doesn't need to look too far for motivation either, given what Kraev & Zawada have done so far for us.

Goals in this one for sure, hopefully more for us than for them. 🤞

Should be a cracker. 
COYN! 🟡⚫🦅

Fire Up! 🔥 🔥 🔥 

Clean sheet would be worth gold tonight. Lets do it!

Sutton starts for Mauragis. Everything else is the same. Edit: sorry Wooton back too! Payne as signaled RB. 
Statement time. We’re ready for a charge to the end of season! 

Looks like CCM have Farrell playing as a CB with McGarry on the right. Should be able to target their backline pretty strongly if that’s the case.

Why gain is is McGarry at CCM? What happened at the Jets?