Mariners won't lose confidence: Okon
Oct 8, 2017 - 5:10 AM Central Coast coach Paul Okon insists his side won't lose confidence and belief despite suffering a shattering 5-1 opening round A-League derby loss.The Mariners started brightly at Gosford on Saturday, with new striker Asdrubal giving them the lead within five minutes.
But a first half hat-trick to former Mariners forward Roy O'Donovan and two late goals made for a lopsided scoreline
Both Okon and his Jets' counterpart Ernie Merrick felt the final score wasn't a fair reflection of a game in which the Mariners had eight more shots and all 13 corners.
"I don't think we were outplayed or we performed badly, at certain moments we needed to be better, and often that can be the difference," Okon said.
"It's a disappointing result, it's not a great start but there's 26 games to go and we'll analyse it, look at it, be critical of ourselves as we often are and move on to next week.
"We're not going to lose our confidence or lose belief.
"Just continue to work as we've been working and prepare as best as what we can for a very tough away trip to the Wanderers next week."
Merrick backed the Mariners to come good and possibly earn a first finals appearance in four seasons.
"The Mariners, in my mind, will cause a lot of problems for teams," Merrick said.
"They are going to be very competitive and I would say they will be a top-six team."
Okon did identify an aspect his side were comprehensively beaten in by Newcastle.
"One area we were really poor was winning second balls." Okon said.
"(Ben) Kantarovski and (Steven) Ugarkovic won nearly everything that dropped down to them.
"Thats a big part of football today is that second ball contest, so you can continue to apply pressure and Newcastle were certainly better at executing that than what we were."
Okon will get Andrew Hoole back from suspension, while Storm Roux is expected to return from a lower back issue.
Source: AAP
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