After three wins and a draw in their past four starts, Mariners coach Graham Arnold has rewarded his hard working squad with five days off. It could be argued that the break has come at a bad time considering that the players were beginning to some momentum up, especially the new signings who are beginning to work well in a new team.

Wednesday's clash with the Roar will be pivotal and could well be an opportunity for the Mariners to move into second spot on the table, a fantastic result after many wrote off their chances prior to the beginning of the season.

The last time the two sides met, the Mariners took the points with a comfortable 3-0 win. However, the Roar was in turmoil as they had just parted ways with Frank Farina, and Ange Postecoglou was yet to take the reins of the club. Since then, Brisbane has been flying and Postecoglou has turned his side into a genuine premiership threat.

The game will be won and lost in the midfield as a tense battle looms between Mariners playmaker Michael McGlinchey and Brisbane Roar stalwart Matt McKay. New signing Patricio Perez is beginning to fit into the way of life in the Central Coast of New South Wales and will have a large bearing on the final result.

A strength of the Mariners so far under new Coach Graham Arnold has been the organization and the discipline across the board, but especially in defence. Central Coast, along with the likes of Brisbane, Gold Coast and Newcastle share the best defensive record in the competition with just six goals conceded so far.

In terms of improvement, the boys need to be more potent in front of goal if they are to challenge deep into the season. So far, we're averaging just over one goal a game and it is quite clear that Matt Simon, Daniel McBreen and Adam Kwasnik need to finish off the good work of the midfield.

We can only hope that the boys will be sitting comfortably in second place after nine games at the conclusion of tomorrow night's game. With plenty of improvement in store from a number of players, things are continuing to look promising.