Central Coast Mariners coach Mark Jackson is refusing to use fatigue from his side’s exertions in the Asian Champions League Elite as an excuse for a slow start to the defence of their A-League title after a second successive draw on Saturday.
Jackson’s side put on an improved performance in the second half to draw 1-1 with Adelaide United to move onto two points from their opening two games in the new season as the Mariners attempt to juggle domestic and continental commitments.
Central Coast endured numerous long-haul trips last season on the way to winning Asia’s second-tier club competition, the AFC Cup, and have already played three times in the Asian Champions League Elite since mid-September.
Jackson’s team have yet to pick up a point in the league phase of the revamped continental championship and lost 3-2 in China to Shanghai Port on Tuesday before their return to domestic duties in Adelaide.
“There’s various reasons why we felt leggy in the first half and I’m certainly not a manager who uses excuses because we dealt with that last year,” Jackson said after seeing Sabit Ngor cancel out Luka Jovanovic’s opener for Adelaide.
“We have to deal with that when we’re competing in the Champions League. We need to be better at that. We know how to deal with this situation, we dealt with it last year.”
Jackson is at the start of his second season in charge of Central Coast having taken over from Nick Montgomery last September.
He led the club to an unprecedented trophy treble, claiming the A-League Championship and A-League Premiership titles as well as the AFC Cup despite making a poor start to the season, with defeats in each of his first four league games.
Mariners overcame that to top the standings by two points, and Jackson is confident his team will improve as the season progresses.
“We’re in a better position than we were last year with losing four straight games but we want to win games,” he said.
“We know coming to Adelaide is tough, even off the back of the Champions League but I’m not a person who is looking for people to feel sorry for us about the travel.
“We earned the right play in the Champions League and we’ve developed a squad of players who should be able to deal with that. We’re finding our feet still and we’ll get better.”
(Reuters)