Central Coast Mariners showed the true qualities needed from a team capable of winning the league – the ability to win ugly. An Oliver Bozanic goal in the opening 10 minutes was enough to earn the league leader a narrow 1-0 victory against a lacklustre Sydney FC – who slumped to their third straight defeat in the process.

Friday, January 6
8pm Altamira vs Toros Neza Gol TV

Saturday, January 7
7:30am Birmingham City vs Wolverhampton Wanderers Fox Soccer Plus, foxsoccer.tv
10am Fleetwood Town vs Blackpool Fox Soccer Plus, foxsoccer.tv
10am Swindon Town vs Wigan Athletic foxsoccer.

By Chris Wright

Definitely not one for the faint of heart/groin, in honour of Scott Dann suffering possibly the grimmest-sounding injury on record at the weekend a 'ruptured testicle' for those who missed it we've cobbled together ten of the most tear-inducing crotch assaults in recent memory.

Melbourne Victory 3 Central Coast Mariners 3 November 3, 2006 Welcome to the very last Classic Match, which can only mean that the new season kicks off tomorrow! I hope you've enjoyed the countdown I've got a real cracker of a game to finish it off. The 3-3 draw with the Mariners is regarded

Following the recent launch of its 2011/12 away strip, last season's Australian A-League regular season second place finishers and playoff finalists Central Coast Mariners Football Club have officially unveiled their navy blue and yellow hummel 2011/12 home kit and goalkeeper jerseys. According to the Mariners' website: Central Coast Mariners today officially launched the club's playing [.

Following the recent launch of its 2011/12 away strip, last season's Australian A-League regular season second place finishers and playoff finalists Central Coast Mariners Football Club have officially unveiled their navy blue and yellow hummel 2011/12 home kit and goalkeeper jerseys. According to the Mariners' website: Central Coast Mariners today officially launched the club's playing [.

Hi everybody,
Welcome to today's blog. Did you all have a decent weekend?
FP was out on the track for the final day of the races in town. It seemed like a ridiculously indulgent day full of booze, women and more booze. Hopefully your weekend was just as fun.
So Perth Glory lost 1-0 on the weekend to Central Coast Mariners with a former Glory boy scoring the goal.

Morning,
Welcome to the blog on this glorious Friday. In the office there is this bloke who feels the need to use this auspicious day to play that terrible song.
It was one of few pieces of music that was universal panned and it honestly could remove paint from walls, if needed.

Morning everyone,
Welcome to the blog.
So yours truly did end up going to the races yesterday. There was the usual mix of frocks, shocks and quite a few jocks.
A few people even got lucky with their horses and it seemed like a grand old time was had by all. But lady luck was not smiling in this direction.

Last season's Australian A-League regular season second place finishers and playoff finalists Central Coast Mariners Football Club signed a two-year kit deal with Danish sportswear firm hummel in May. Since then the Central Coast Mariners hummel 2011/12 away jersey has been unveiled and used extensively during the club's pre-season.

Last season's Australian A-League regular season second place finishers and playoff finalists Central Coast Mariners Football Club signed a two-year kit deal with Danish sportswear firm hummel in May. Since then the Central Coast Mariners hummel 2011/12 away jersey has been unveiled and used extensively during the club's pre-season.

Should football associations and federations call for tenders and financially support the one or two clubs in a region who can provide the best development model.
Gets the Federation out of Rep and player development - something they have struggled to really develop over the years - consistently.

Schalke may be pricing Blackburn Rovers out of the Jermaine Jones sweepstakes.

According to the Lancashire Telegraph, Schalke's asking price of £10 million for a full transfer of the U.S. international midfielder is too high for Blackburn, and the club is resigned to moving on without him.

With so many young Aussies and older Aussies heading to Asia in the recent A-League break you have to start to wonder who will fill the spots next season.
Matthew Leckie, Robbie Kruse, Mustafa Amini, Luke Devere, Dino Djubic, and Alex Brosque are just some of the good great and ordinary A-League players who have left or will leave the A-League in coming days.

What have Chichester City, Swindon Supermarine, the Brisbane Roar and a rural agricultural college in the Gloucestershire countryside got in common?

It's a fairly obscure bit of trivia, which helps chart the footballing career of defender Matt Smith, who went from the County League title with Chichester to winning the A-League Grand Final with the Brisbane Roar, via a state league title with Palm Beach, a league title with Swindon Supermarine, a BUSA title with Hartpury College and the 2007 World Uni Championships.

Manchester United takes on Arsenal today in FA Cup action, a match that is easily the best of a busy day of soccer action.

The Red Devils will be looking to keep Arsenal down after the Gunners' recent Champions League loss to Barcelona, but Arsenal will have a chance to knock off a United side with its own UEFA Champions League issues to deal with.

The post-season Play-Offs have got under way in Australia and for Minor Premiers Brisbane Roar the Grand Final is just 90 minutes away after enjoying a first leg win over Central Coast Mariners. In the straight knock-out phase, played between teams finishing from third to sixth in the regular season standings, Adelaide United and Gold Coast United saw off the challenges of Wellington Phoenix and Melbourne Victory respectively.

All the hype about Patricio Perez the Mariners star Argentinean counted for nothing as he failed to deliver in the game that mattered, the A-League semi-final.
A close game and the Mariners were perhaps unlucky not to score as they hit the post a couple of times but in truth it was Perez with some key space and ball, particularly in the second half who could not deliver a final ball, or test the Roar keeper with any decent shot that saw the Mariners needing a miracle in Brisbane.

The FA Cup usually presents some appealing David-vs.-Goliath matchups, and some of this weekend's fifth-round matches are no exception.

Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal have Crawley Town, Notts County and Leyton Orient, respectively, in their paths to reach the quarterfinals.

Following the high profile signing of Malaysian national team striker Safee Sali, Pelita Jaya are now thought to be hot on the heels of Scottish defender Christopher Doig, currently with A League side Central Coast Mariners.
Doig, who turned 30 last week, represented Scotland Under 21s about a decade ago and has also played for Queen of the South (who are actually a football team and not a Twitter account), Nottingham Forest and Northampton Town.

Anyone else notice Harry Kewell smiling just a little more in Qatar....hmmn than say at the World Cup.
With Robbie Slater sent to watch Central Coast Mariners, (is that in Qatar?) and Mike Cockerill yet to send a report for the SMH (is he commentating?) I'm beginning to wonder if Harry has bigger powers than we thought or the Mike and Robbie are running for cover!