All on the line for Mariners in do or die clash this Sunday
Ahead of the upcoming do-or-die clash for NPL Men’s NSW safety, we spoke to Central Coast Mariners head coach Lucas Vilela about the match against the Western Sydney Wanderers.
The Mariners are currently third-last on the ladder, two points clear of Mt Druitt Town Rangers at the bottom and one point ahead of their opponents this weekend.
The winner of the fixture will guarantee survival for another season in the NPL Men’s NSW competition, while the loser will either face a two-leg promotion-relegation playoff or direct relegation, depending on Mt Druitt’s result against NWS Spirit FC.
“It’s the biggest match of the year for us,” said Vilela on the game.
“We’re playing another academy team which makes it a little more even, but we are all focused on this big match.
“The Wanderers are a top team that have been getting some points in the previous games, so we have high expectations for it to be a great game.
“Hopefully we can get the result that we need.”
It’s a difficult match to prepare for, but something the Mariners are used to, having finished second-bottom in the 2024 season.
In the promotion/relegation matches, they were defeated 2-1 by Bulls FC Academy in the first leg, but responded with a stunning 4-0 win in the second match to retain their spot in the competition.
“We’ve been through this last season as a club and myself as a coach as well,” Vilela said.
“We need to focus on the day-by-day.
“Doing the right things daily to get to the game, otherwise you just overthink and create things in your head that just doesn’t help to prepare for the game.
“We should be fine in terms of the emotions that this game brings to us, and I think the lads as well are all aware of the importance of this game for the club.”
Meanwhile, when asked about the importance of the match, Vilela kept a calm, balanced view, stating the importance of focusing on the process and performance as mechanisms to lead to a positive result.
“The most important thing is for the club to remain in the top flight and continuing our development at the highest level of the NPL,” he said.
“It’s one game that decides how we go – it could be a fantastic game and we stay in NPL1, or if that result doesn’t happen, we need to look at the process of developing players and take this as another step to develop top players.
“You can develop players in all divisions – we were in League One Men’s for a long time and were still able to develop top players – Max Ballard, Jacob Farrell, Alou Kuol – so we are focused on the developing players, and the win will represent our process.
“We aren’t focusing on the winning, but as a good opportunity to face a top academy team and fight for something big.”
The Mariners will host the Wanderers at Pluim Park on Sunday afternoon, with the 3pm kick-off also available live and free on Football NSW’s YouTube Channel.
