Through the eyes of Graham Arnold

Central Coast Mariners coach Graham 'Arnie' Arnold says he was not happy with some of the play exhibited by his squad last night in their 1-1 draw against Hyundai A-League opponents Gold Coast United.

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“Thank God they have the character and the mentality and the fight in them like they do, 'cause I’ve seen many times when games haven’t gone right and if you don’t have the will and the determination and the structure to fall back on, it can get pretty average.”

The Mariners met Gold Coast in Round Two of the Hyundai A-League at Bluetongue Stadium, in front of 10,394 football fans. Despite looking promising early on in the first half, the Mariners quickly faded, allowing an underwhelming Gold Coast side back into the game.

Despite a lacklustre first half from both teams, Gold Coast returned after the break with a changed attitude, using the likes of Adam Traore, Dylan MacAllister and goal scorer James Brown to take a 1-0 lead. A cross from Central Coast midfielder Brad Porter to skipper Patrick Zwaanswijk saw an incredible header smash into the top right hand side of the net, beating Gold Coast 'keeper Glenn Moss and leveling the game at 1-1. The intensity of the game was turned up a notch in the dying stages much to the approval of Arnie, who praised his player’s fighting qualities and spirit.

“One thing about this team is if things aren’t going well they fight to the death. They never give up.”

Throughout the 90 minutes both teams struggled to find the back of the net, with six yellow cards being handed out during the game. Arnie didn’t offer any excuses for his team’s performance, rather saying all teams in the Hyundai A-League needed to find their feet.

“When you have seven months of non competitive football, I think all teams will be rusty. Its harder to coach combination play.”

“I don’t think it will be until Round Six or Round Seven that we will start to see teams hitting their straps.”

Arnold says there is still work to be down ahead of next Sunday’s game against F3 rivals, the Newcastle Jets.

“We need to work hard on our game.”

“It doesn’t take much motivation for an F3 derby, and we will be looking forward to it”.

“I expect a better performance than what we showed.”