Central Coast call on home fans to help turn back the Western Sydney Wanderers tsunami
IT’S a red and black invasion that threatens to turn Gosford into Wanderland-by-the-sea – now the Mariners want their own fans to turn back the tide.
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IT’S a red and black invasion that threatens to turn Gosford into Wanderland-by-the-sea – now the Mariners want their own fans to turn back the tide.
Up to 5000 Wanderers fans are expected to make the trip to the Central Coast on Sunday for a game crucial to both sides’ hopes of making the top six – in a fixture Western Sydney have traditionally dominated.
Having put in place cut-price ticket deals to attract local support, Mariners CEO Shaun Mielekamp called on Mariners fans to counter the volume of Western Sydney’s travelling support.
The away side have won five times in eight visits to Central Coast Stadium, and lost only two, though both Central Coast and the Wanderers come into this game on the back of a loss.
“The funny thing is when the Wanderers fans come to us, it’s probably the closest they’ll get to Wanderland while Parramatta Stadium is rebuilt,” said Mielekamp. “Maybe it’s because they’ll be a bit closer to the action than they are at Spotless Stadium.
“But we don’t want to be too welcoming. As things stand there could be more red and black than yellow at Central Coast Stadium on Sunday.
“We’ve seen this season how getting real support behind our boys makes a huge difference to the team. A win would bring us level on points with Western Sydney so it’s a massive game for both teams. The fans could make the difference.”
Acknowledging his team’s results had left some fans disillusioned, striker Blake Powell offered a simple message to the Mariners faithful.
“Stick behind us – it’s not far away and there’s still a lot of games to go in the season,” he said. “If we string two wins together we’ll be in the six, it’s such a tight table.
“We don’t go out there to lose or draw games. Every time we go out there we give 100%, and that’s something that won’t change this weekend.”