Back the honours to be shared in Sunday's A League derby at the McDonald Jones Stadium.
Newcastle Jets v Central Coast Mariners – Sunday 06:00, BT Sport 2
With just one win in the last six rounds of the A-League, Newcastle Jets are looking like fringe play-off prospects at best, especially following last weekend’s loss to bottom of the table Adelaide. This week they face off against Central Coast Mariners, whose three-game winning streak was brought to an end by Melbourne Victory last weekend.
The Jets have been a hard side to beat at home this season as it is only runaway leaders Sydney who have taken all three points away from here. However, they’ve drawn half their home games and a lack of consistency has left them three points off the play-off spots. Furthermore, they’ve drawn three of their four home matches against the teams currently below them and that lack of a killer instinct means they look a touch short to us at 1.8.
The Mariners have been a very poor away side for the past few years but their general form has been much better of late including that recent three-game winning streak. They’ve still lost half their away matches this term but ignoring the top three and that record improves to a creditable W2-D3-L2. Furthermore, they’ve only lost twice in their last 12 matches against the Jets as half have finished all-square and 12 were level at half-time. With the Jets having three players suspended, including captain Nigel Boogaard and regular midfielders Wayne Brown and Ma Leilei, we think the Mariners can get something out of this derby, with the Draw representing decent value.
