For the past five seasons Western NSW Mariners FC has been consistent strugglers, but skipper Adam Scimone wants that to change.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Speaking ahead of this Saturday’s Football NSW National Premier League 3 fixture against Fraser Park, Scimone wants more from his side.
So much so, he’s eyeing off a finals berth.
“We say year in, year out that you’ve to to be competitive and we always seem to have a competitive squad,” he said.
“It’s not easy but it’s when it comes to football, it’s all about consistency.”
In a show of capable the Mariners were last year, they took down Rydalmere in 2017 and the Lions were eventually promoted to NPL2.
But in a show of consistent the Mariners were last year, it was one of their four wins.
“You can't play good one week and crap the next,” he said.
“If we can get to a consistent level, we can make the finals. That's the main goal – get to the finals – and throw our hat in the ring.”
Mariners will start their season at home, at Lithgow’s Marjorie Jackson Field, against last year’s champions Fraser Park.
However Fraser Park, which include the experienced Jason and Branko Culina as coaches, has had some pretty major player turnover this summer.
“They're a big club trying to get back into the NPL 2. They'll be wanting to start out on the strongest foot,” he said.
“I spoke to the captain a few weeks back at the [NPL 3 launch] photo shoot and he said they only play on synthetic pitches. The pitch down at Lithgow is pretty ordinary, pretty hard.
“We played on it in our first trial a few weeks back and it was pretty ordinary. Hopefully that comes into play a bit and levels the playing field.”
Scimone has liked what he’s seen from his Mariners side during pre-season and is hoping that will continue against Fraser Park.
“Kenny McCall has had a great pre-season, scoring heaps of goals in the trial games we’ve had,” he said.
“The guys in the midfield – Josh Ward and Lachie Thomas – they’ve been linking really well.
“If we've got that creativity in the midfield, it gives us a lot of options up front. We've just got to take our chances. Going forward, there's plenty of attacking options up front.
“First game of the season, everyone is always full of beans and energy and wanting to get the three points. We'll need to be on our game 100 per cent and defensively strong if we want to get something out of the game.
“It's been a pretty good pre-season. We were trying to get through the pre-season unscathed and we've had some pre-season games, with some pretty good success.”
Saturday’s game at Lithgow will kick-off at 4pm.