A league - Round 6 - Adelaide vs Central Coast (Sun 30 Sep - 4:30pm)

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Adelaide United v Central Coast Mariners Date: Sunday September 30 Kick-off (local time): 4.30pm Venue: Hindmarsh Stadium Radio coverage: Fresh FM 92.7FM (Adelaide), Coast FM 96.3FM (Central Coast) Head-to-head Seven league meetings: Adelaide - 3 wins, Central Coast - 2 wins, 2 draws Previous meeting Central Coast 1 Adelaide 3 (Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium, Hyundai A-League round 21, January 2007) Past five results Adelaide: Draw - Draw - Draw - Loss - Win Central Coast: Win - Win - Win - Draw - Win Few pundits would have predicted a nine-point gap separating the Central Coast Mariners and grand finalist Adelaide United at this early stage of the season with the Vidmar family bragging rights clearly belonging to Tony over older brother Aurelio. Vidmar junior not only faces his sibling when the Mariners travel to Hindmarsh for Sunday's clash but also his hometown crowd but the central defender's mind will be solely focused on extending his side's clean sheet record rather than on Aurelio's problems breaking a winless start at the Reds. Tony will regain his place in central defence after a ban while Andrew Clark is expected to deputise at right-back with Matthew Osman not travelling with the squad because of a torn hamstring. A fifth shutout last weekend against Perth Glory meant Lawrie McKinna's league leader equaled Preston's national league record for most number of matches at the start of the season without conceding a goal as well as matching Sydney FC's Hyundai A-League record stretch from last season. The South Australian connection continues with on-loan striker Damian Mori, the prolific marksman making the shortest 'away' trip of all the Mariners players as he still resides in Adelaide full-time. Mori has scored on each of his two previous visits to Hindmarsh - including a hat-trick for Perth in the inaugural season - and most recently led South Australian Super League side Adelaide City to the local double as player/coach, top-scoring on the way to collecting the league title. However, Greg Owens is uncertain of facing his former employers because of an ongoing back problem. Nik Mrdja and Alex Wilkinson are other big-name absentees for McKinna. Aurelio Vidmar might consider a change of goalkeeper with former No.1 Daniel Beltrame fit after a calf injury but defender Richie Alagich should play despite twisting his knee awkwardly against the Phoenix. Captain Paul Agostino continues to struggle with the corked calf he suffered a fortnight ago against the Jets but is named in Vidmar's squad although Bobby Petta (calf) and Dez Giraldi (thigh) are unavailable.

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Re: A league - Round 6 - Adelaide vs Central Coast (Sun 30 Sep - 4:30pm) Adelaide United Squad: 1.Daniel BELTRAME, (gk), 2.Richie ALAGICH, 4.Angelo COSTANZO, 6.CASSIO, 7.Lucas PANTELIS, 8.Kristian SARKIES, 9.Paul AGOSTINO (Captain), 10.Nathan BURNS, 11.Bruce DJITE, 13.Travis DODD, 15.Jonas SALLEY, 17.Isyan ERDOGAN, 18.Robert CORNTHWAITE, 20.Robert BAJIC (gk), 21.Jason SPAGNUOLO, 22.DIEGO. *one to be omitted In: Paul Agostino (return from injury) Out: Nil Others Unavailable: Dez Giraldi (quad – 2 weeks), Bobby Petta (calf – 2 weeks) Central Coast Mariners Squad: 1.Matthew TROTT (gk), 2.Matt SIMON, 5.Bradley PORTER, 6.Andre GUMPRECHT, 7.John HUTCHINSON, 8.Dean HEFFERNAN, 10.Tom PONDELJAK, 11.Damien BROWN, 12.Greg OWENS, 13.Tony VIDMAR, 15.Andrew CLARK, 16.Nigel BOOGAARD, 19.Adam KWASNIK, 20.Danny VUKOVIC (gk), 22.Sasho PETROVSKI, 23.Mile JEDINAK, 24.Damian MORI *two to be omitted In: Matt SIMON (Promoted), Greg OWENS (Promoted), Tony VIDMAR (Returns from suspension) Out: Matthew OSMAN (Hamstring – Indefinite) Others Unavailable: Nik MRDJA (Knee – Indefinite), Alex WILKINSON (Knee – Indefinite) Impending stats, facts and trivia After recording a fifth clean sheet in their first five matches of the Hyundai A-League season, the Central Coast Mariners are now aiming to create a new Australian national league record for longest start to a season without conceding a goal. The current record is 474 minutes, set by Preston in the 1986 season of the old NSL. The Mariners therefore need to go for 25 minutes into their match against Adelaide to break the all-time record. Incidentally, Adelaide United was the last team to score against Central Coast, in round 21 of the Hyundai A-League 2006/07 season.