CALL it what you like - long ball, route one, direct. The purists may squirm, but that doesn't worry Lawrie McKinna one bit. Two pre-season cups, two grand-final appearances, and a minor premiership is a pretty impressive haul for a club that now wears the "unfashionable" tag as a badge of honour. The siege mentality is alive and well in Gosford, and continues to be a great source of motivation. As we reach the halfway point of another A-League season, where are the Central Coast Mariners? In second spot, hot on the heels of pacesetters Melbourne Victory, and challenging for honours again.
Football, and how it should be played, is an endless source of debate among fans, coaches and those who wear $400 shirts, drink ristrettos at fashionable cafes and like to regard themselves as the cognoscenti. Of the latter, there are few among the blue-collar, thongs and singlet-wearing people of the Central Coast. This is Marinerland, where a strong tackle, or a gutsy header, is likely to generate as much applause at a home game as a nutmeg or a whipped cross. And McKinna plays to his market and his team's strengths: strong, direct, physical. McKinna may have become an Australian, but the fact he was serenaded by bagpipes at his citizenship ceremony proves he hasn't forgone his Scottish roots. The Mariners' style is his style, and damn the critics. It has proved mighty effective.
It was effective again against battle-weary Adelaide United on Saturday night, when three proved to be the lucky number. Three strikers, three set pieces, three goals and three points. The Mariners now go to Telstra Dome on Friday night with a chance of leapfrogging the Victory into the competition lead. One thing rival clubs have learnt is to never write off Central Coast. The Reds and Sydney FC did that earlier this season, and twice the Mariners came back from three goals down to level the game.
Which brings us to the symbolism of Saturday night's match on a barren pitch at Gosford. Adelaide United were coming off the high of the Asian Champions League final three days earlier, handing the baton over to the Mariners in the process. Just as Asia was surprised by the Reds' march to the final, so Asia will be surprised by the Mariners when they open their ACL campaign in March. Perhaps more so.
Whereas Aurelio Vidmar adapted his tactics, his ideas, and his philosophy to suit Asia, there are few indications McKinna is going to compromise his beliefs in quite the same way. Should he? Probably not.
The likelihood is that Asian clubs are not going to know what's hit them when the Mariners turn up with their battering ram of forwards feeding off the quick release from goalkeeper Danny Vukovic, a tall and muscular line of defenders putting their bodies on the line, and a midfield anchorman, Mile Jedinak, who prowls the centre circle like a caged lion. It's one thing knowing what the Mariners are likely to do. It's another to be able to do something about it.
In the A-League, nobody has quite got to grips with the Mariners' style of play. The ACL is another level, but the way the Mariners play is so foreign to the slow tempo of the west Asians, or the high-tempo short-passing game of the east Asians, that it may work. And it's always good to have the element of surprise.
The key for Central Coast between now and then is Andrew Clark, who sometimes plays at fullback but always works as the team's strength and conditioning coach. Clark is a hard taskmaster, but he's also a smart guy. He's doing his master's degree in sports science, focusing on the best way, and the best time, for players to use their energy. In the heat of Asia, that insight could be crucial. If the Mariners learn to switch gears, they could go a long way.
