Roux: Mariners don't deserve A-League wooden spoon

No one wants back-to-back wooden spoons and that's what’s driving Central Coast Mariners for the rest of the A-League season.

The Mariners are winless in five matches, which saw them drop to the bottom of the A-League table last week when they lost 3-2 at home to Adelaide United.

The men from Gosford finished 13 points adrift at the bottom in 2015-16 but can still realistically finish as high as eighth this term.

Getty

Adelaide (21 points) are just a point ahead of Central Coast, with eighth-placed Newcastle Jets (22) also within reach of the Mariners.

Central Coast full-back Storm Roux made it clear on Wednesday that the Mariners are desperate to get off the bottom of the table.

"It's our main focus now," he said.

"The gap is not as big as last season – that was a shambles of a season, if we're honest about it – we know it was. 

"This season we’re showing signs of improvement and Paulo [coach Paul Okon] has come in here and done a good job.

"We're going to be giving it all we've got in the last three games to get the points.

"We're desperate not to get that wooden spoon and the way we've been playing this season, we don't deserve it."

Roar beat Victory, Adelaide leapfrogs Central Coast

Central Coast's first chance to gain ground on the Reds and the Jets comes on Sunday when they visit Brisbane Roar.

Asked about how to stop Roar's lead striker Jamie Maclaren, who scored his 15th goal of the season in a 1-0 win over Melbourne Victory last week, Roux said: "The hard thing about him is that he's always in the right place at the right time.

"It just means the back four have to be focused and know where he is.

"That's what good strikers do – they score goals – so we're going to have to find a way to stop that.

"We played well against them [last time] but just couldn't get the job done.

"We're going to tweak some things here and there and hopefully come up with a formula to get the result."

After the clash with Brisbane, the Mariners host Newcastle and visit Victory to complete their season.