Central Coast Mariners midfielder John Hutchinson says the club has the belief and character to overcome a 2-0 deficit to the Queensland Roar. The Mariners were outclassed by the Roar in Friday night's minor semi-final first leg at Bluetongue Stadium and will go in to this Friday's second leg with a clear disadvantage.

Hutchinson says though that the players have belief in themselves to turn that disadvantage into a win.

"I think maybe on the weekend we lacked a bit of belief after we went 2-0 down but we're obviously back in training, working hard and looking to overcome another 2-0 deficit after the first leg of a final," he said.

"We believe we can do it and the players haven't given up hope, so hopefully we can work hard, go back to the Mariners of old who were playing before the turn of the new year and put a good performance on.

"We need to perform well for ourselves and the people that have been let down recently but most importantly for the players. We are going into Asia (for the Champions League) and our current form hasn't been good so we need to lift our current form and hopefully we can get the result this week and look forward to a good Asian campaign.

Hutchinson also made mention of the team's ability to come back from precarious positions to get a favourable result.

"It's encouraging because we know we can do it," he added.

"We've been 3-0 down twice and we've come back so we know we can definitely fight back.

"We've got that spirit and the character, it's just if we can do it in a big game, away from home, (in front of) 30,000 people maybe.

"It's a big question mark but I believe that we can, I believe in all the players and the coaching staff and I believe in our ability to overcome that 2-0 deficit and hopefully we can get a goal (early) and go from there."