Central Coast coach McKinna delighted for players after Newcastle win

Central Coast Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna was delighted for his players after the broke a 10-match winless streak last night.

The Mariners overcame a tardy start to eventually defeat Newcastle Jets, who were chasing fourth spot, 3-0 at Bluetongue Stadium and McKinna was pleased that the players could taste some success prior to the end of the season.

“Over the last ten weeks it’s been hard, and in a lot of these games we feel as though we should have got a lot more out of but we never, and that’s football, so to come to the last home game and get a very convincing win over Newcastle, our local rivals, is great,” said McKinna.

“I’m just happy for the players, they’ve worked hard all season and we’ve copped a lot of criticism for the poor run of results, but that is probably one of the most convincing games we’ve played against our local rivals in the five years.”

The win enabled the Mariners to jump to seventh position on the league table although they can finish no higher but can drop to ninth if results don’t go their way in the final match of the home and away season.

They take on fourth-placed Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium this Friday night – kick-off is at 7:30pm local time (5:30pm AEDT).