Central Coast Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna understands his team's form is not ideal going into tomorrow night's minor semi-final first leg. The Mariners take on Queensland Roar at Bluetongue Stadium on Friday night after losing their last three games in a row but McKinna said that form really doesn't count when finals begin.

"We're looking forward to it, it's a new competition for us and a new phase of our season and it's a big week for us," said McKinna.

"It's totally different now, it doesn't matter what our form has been like - going into this first game we need to get a result at home and Friday's result will determine how we play when we go to Queensland."

In contrast to the Mariners form, Frank Farina's Roar have won their last three outings, a fact not lost on McKinna.

"Queensland are probably one of the form teams, they've had a great run, Van Dijk is scoring goals for them, they're scoring goals from midfield, we just need to shut that down and concentrate on what we do well," he added.

"The Roar will be tough, they've got a settled team and they've had a very settled squad.

"They've got a lot of youth up there and players that play with no fear and they come at you in droves, they've got a lot of pace - we just need to match that and concentrate on keeping the ball.

"We just need to improve our concentration, when you're playing against top teams like Queensland, you can't let your guard down for a minute and if we're switched on for ninety minutes, we'll get a positive result."