Mariners star Christian Theoharous keen on winning return to Melbourne

The Central Coast Mariners aren’t about to go down without a fight against Melbourne City at AAMI Park on Saturday.

Former Melbourne Victory and Western United midfielder Christian Theoharous plans to put a dent in Melbourne City’s A-League title hopes at AAMI Park on Saturday.

Part of a Central Coast side desperate to maintain its slim hopes of playing finals football this season, Theoharous – who scored a memorable goal in the Mariners’ last-start 3-1 win over Perth Glory – has been looking forward to his latest return to his home city.

“I like the Melbourne trips the most, obviously going back and seeing family, but … hopefully we can get the result and a good performance,” Theoharous said.

“It’s massive – huge for us. The gaffer (Mariners coach Mark Jackson) raves on about how mathematically we’re not out of (the race to make the finals) yet, so weirder things have happened in football.

“We’ll concentrate on the performance and hopefully the result takes care of itself.”

Christian Theoharous shows his skills during his time with Western United before his move to the Mariners. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

The Mariners, who have struggled in their bid for a third successive A-League title, are eight points outside the top six.

“We’re trying to build that momentum, and we want finish the season strong,” Theoharous said.

As does the Aurelio Vidmar-coached Melbourne City side that’s in third place on the ladder, eight points adrift of competition leaders Auckland FC with five regular season games remaining.

“We’re in really good shape physically, and we have to be physically, mentally and tactically ready for the next four weeks,” Vidmar said.

“We can finish strongly. We’ve been pretty consistent all year. If you’re consistent throughout the season and don’t have many peaks and troughs, you always put yourself in a good position.”

City’s success this season been built around its stingy defence, with the 20 goals conceded by Vidmar’s men being the lowest of any team in the competition.

However, in attack, City has only scored 30 goals, with only the bottom four clubs – Central Coast, Wellington Phoenix, Brisbane Roar and Perth Glory – having netted fewer.

Melbourne City coach Aurelio Vidmar is confident his side will finish the season ‘strongly’. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

“Our achilles heel is we haven’t scored enough like we have in the previous years, but the defensive side has been really strong … the whole group,” said Vidmar, whose side won’t underestimate the Mariners.

“They’re well coached and they’ve got strong players. I know they’ve had a bit of a mixed season this year, but they’re still the current champions. You’ve still got to treat them with a lot of respect,” he said.

“They’ll be bouncy, they’ll be ready for us. We’ve got to respect and negate them, but we also have to play always at our very best and keep doing the things that we want to do to dictate and control the game.”

Originally published as Mariners star Christian Theoharous keen on winning return to Melbourne