Football
AAP 5y

Mike Mulvey challenges Central Coast Mariners to win again after drought-breaker

Central Coast coach Mike Mulvey wants his team to maintain their hunger now that they've claimed their first win in more than 300 days in the A-League.

The Mariners' 327-day drought was finally broken on Wednesday night, as Matt Simon tapped in a rebound from an 89th-minute penalty to claim a 2-1 victory over Melbourne City.

The win ensured the Mariners would narrowly avoid equalling two records by one match: Firstly for the longest losing streak at 11 and the most games without a win at 19.

But after singing the team song for the first time this season, Mulvey says it's important the players see the victory as just the beginning ahead of Sunday's clash with the lowly Brisbane.

"It's a win, and it's important that we have had a kill by winning," Mulvey said.

"We've tasted it. Now we want to find out how hungry we are to get more.

"I've said for the last few weeks if we kept 11 on the field against Sydney and 11 on the field against New Zealand we would have won those games or gone close to winning those games."

Discipline in the referee's book wasn't an issue on Wednesday night but controlling the ball was as Mulvey's men completed just 68 percent of passes.

The Mariners were forced to defend well as they gave City 60 percent of the ball and an extra 10 chances after setting up a 1-0 lead at halftime through Connor Pain.

"We turned the ball over a number of times today where we gained possession and tried to score the goal straight away or tried to create that killer pass," Mulvey said.

"Instead of maybe building the attack a bit more. And that is part of the next stage of trying to manage the game."

^ Back to Top ^