In the 9th Round of A-League, we will see Central Coast Mariners hosting Newcastle Jets in hopes to win their 1st match of the season.
Central Coast Mariners are currently at the last spot in the league and their form is as bad as it can get. As of now, they are holding a 0-2-6 record and they have not won a match since 23rd February 2018, which translates into 15 win-less games. Out of those 15 games, they have played a draw on 2 occasions but lost all other 13 matches. With only 2 draws from their opening 8 games this season, Mariners now officially have the worst start of the season out of all teams in the history of the competition. In their most recent match, Mariners were defeated against Wellington Phoenix despite arguably playing better. In the mentioned match, Mariners had a 54% ball possession and 15 goal attempts, whereas Wellington Phoenix had 56% ball possession and 11 goal attempts. Mariners were even more effective with their passes and won more tackles but yet Phoenix was better when it came to shooting the ball on goal (5:2), which resulted in their win. It was a great effort from Mariners and despite the loss we must say they have improved. What I like about the team is that despite suffering from a terrible form they continue fighting and I expect to see the same fight from them against Jets.
Newcastle Jets on the other side are currently 7th in the league, 6 points above Mariners and an overall record of 2-2-4. In their most recent 5 games, Jets have won 2 games against WS Wanderers (0:2) and Brisbane Roar (2:0), played a draw against Sydney FC (1:1) and lost 2 against Melbourne City (3:0) and most recently Perth Glory (0:2). In away games this season, Jets are 1-1-2. All in all, Jets performance is rather average this season with some good results and some bad ones. In their most recent match against Perth Glory, the Jets suffered a goal only 2 minutes in, when Perth got awarded a penalty which they successfully converted into a goal. The second goal of the match was scored 23 minutes later, once again by Perth who managed to get a 2 goal lead only 25 minutes into the match, which was surprising being that they had only 43% ball possession, 3 goal attempts and 2 shots on goal, whereas Jets had a 57% ball possession, 13 goal attempts and 3 shots on goal in the first half. In the second half, Jets were even more dominant, with 61% ball possession, 8 goal attempts and 3 shots on goal and Perth with only 39% ball possession, 1 goal attempt and 1 shot on goal. Still, the Jets failed to convert all of their opportunities, thus suffered a 0:2 defeat against the league leaders. All in all, Jets can create opportunities but fail to convert them. With a total of 21 goal attempts, only 6 of them were shot towards the goal.
Looking at the last 3 H2H matches between these 2 teams, Newcastle came out on top in all 3; 1:5, 2:0 and 2:8. This combined means the Jets are 15:3 which is quite impressive on their part, but I do not believe they will manage to end the match with a result that will come close to their last 3 matches against Mariners. This season Jets are rather disappointing in their performances and despite the fact I can’t really say Mariners are impressive, they have got a lot of fight in them. Mariners are slowly improving and they will have a chance for a revenge today against Jets who have embarrassed Mariners in the last 3 matches. With good performances from Mariners against top A-League teams, I expect them to put up a good fight against Newcastle Jets and I do believe they will end their 15 game winless streak in front of their own fans.
Prediction: Central Coast Mariners +0.50 Asian Handicap
Odds: 2,12 SBOBET
