With just three points separating them in a tight top half of the Australian A-League table, Central Coast Mariners will welcome Wellington Phoenix to New South Wales for an important contest on Friday.
The hosts remain second in the division despite a tough run of form, while their visitors, who sit fifth, can move level on points with a victory.
Match preview
After a fifth-placed finish last season, Central Coast Mariners enjoyed a strong start to the new A-League campaign, amassing 22 points from their opening 12 matches as they put seven wins on the board while only suffering four defeats.
They now find themselves in the midst of a dip in form, though, having added just one more victory and five more points to their tally in five further outings, dropping further behind leaders Melbourne City as a result.
The slump began with a 2-1 defeat away at Friday's opponents, before Nick Montgomery's side played out a 2-2 draw with Western Sydney Wanderers and suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat away at Sydney FC in early February.
Aiming to bounce back to form, the Mariners then made the trip to Brisbane Roar and left with a 2-1 victory thanks to goals from Marco Tulio and Beni N'Kololo, before visiting Perth Glory last time out and snatching a point late on, as Jason Cummings converted penalties in the 74th and 81st minutes after the Mariners initially went two goals behind.
Now with some renewed positivity having earned four points from the last two matches, Montgomery's side will hope to continue rebuilding momentum with what would be a ninth league win of the campaign in their aim to reduce the seven-point gap to Melbourne City at the summit of the division.
That will be no easy task, though, as they welcome a Wellington Phoenix side who have climbed to within three points of the top two, having now won four of their last seven league outings after triumphing in just two of their opening 10.
Following their slow start to the new term, the Nix hit form in January with three consecutive three-point hauls, firstly triumphing in 1-0 wins away at Sydney FC and Brisbane Roar before that 2-1 win in the previous meeting with Central Coast Mariners, thanks to first-half goals from Alex Rufer and Oskar Zawada.
Ufuk Talay's men would see their momentum slowed, as Perth Glory held them to a 2-2 draw in New Zealand, after Wellington Phoenix went two goals ahead inside the first 20 minutes, before falling to 3-1 and 2-1 defeats away at Melbourne Victory and Macarthur respectively.
Aiming to return to winning ways after those setbacks, the Nix were most recently in action away at Western United last Wednesday, and they comfortably came out on top thanks to a much-improved performance, with Yan Sasse opening the scoring in the first half before Bozhidar Kraev and Zawada wrapped up the result with goals after the interval.
Now sitting fifth thanks to their improved run, but level on points with sixth-placed Sydney FC and seventh-placed Newcastle Jets, and three points worse off than their second-placed opponents, the visitors' league position could quickly change, and they will now look to move level on points with Central Coast Mariners with another win over Montgomery's men in their aim to establish themselves in the leading pack.
Team News
Jason Cummings will continue to lead the line for Central Coast Mariners after taking his tally to 12 A-League goals for the campaign with his two converted penalties to draw them level against Perth Glory last time out, having also contributed three assists in his 16 league appearances this term.
He should again be joined up front by Marco Tulio, while Beni N'Kololo will offer further attacking threat from the left flank, having hit five goals in his 16 A-League matches so far this season.
The centre-back pairing of Brian Kaltak and 19-year-old Nectarios Triantis is rarely altered, while Joshua Nisbet and Maximilien Balard are also bound to keep their places in the engine room from the outset.
After last week's resounding win away at Western United, Wellington Phoenix should come into Friday's contest with an unchanged starting XI, and Oskar Zawada is bound to again spearhead the attack after hitting his ninth A-League goal of the season in that triumph.
They should line up in a similar 4-4-2 setup to that of the hosts, with David Ball likely joining Zawada and Bozhidar Kraev and Yan Sasse operating on the flanks.
Steven Ugarkovic and Alex Rufer remain key men in midfield, while Joshua Laws and Tim Payne will again partner up at the heart of the defence after their clean sheet last time out.
Central Coast Mariners possible starting lineup:
Vukovic; Roux, Triantis, Kaltak, McGarry; Silvera, Balard, Nisbet, N'Kololo; Tulio, Cummings
Wellington Phoenix possible starting lineup:
Sail; Elliot, Payne, Laws, Mauragis; Sasse, Rufer, Ugarkovic, Kraev; Ball, Zawada
We say: Central Coast Mariners 1-1 Wellington Phoenix
Central Coast Mariners have not been at their best recently, while the visitors are gaining momentum, but on the back of two more positive results, the hosts should have enough to at least avoid another defeat to the Nix, and we anticipate a share of the spoils on Friday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
