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Central Coast Mariners have moved to within a game of the A-League Men's finals places after brushing aside a free-falling Wellington Phoenix.
Central Coast coach Nick Montgomery believes his side can and will continue to improve as they stage a furious push for a spot in the A-League Men finals.
First-half goals from Marco Urena and Beni N'Kololo combined with second-half strikes from Jason Cummings, Garang Kuol and Matt Hatch lifted the Mariners to a commanding 5-0 rout of Wellington Phoenix on Tuesday evening.
Not only did the three points earned at Central Coast Stadium move them to within two of the top six with two games in hand, it also gave the Gosford-based club the second-best goal difference in ALM behind only Melbourne City.
After experiencing a mid-season dip in form due to injuries and COVID, the Mariners are suddenly unbeaten in their last seven games and one of the form teams in the competition.
"We can get better, there's no doubt we can get better," Montgomery said.
"It's consistency, believing in the process and keeping playing.
"We don't feel there's any pressure on us.
"Everyone wrote us off at the start of the season but for us, we don't listen to any outside noise, we just concentrate on ourselves."
While the regular contributors played their part on Tuesday, the contest will go down as the one in which Kuol netted a maiden ALM goal on debut.
"This is just the beginning, and I thank Monty for giving me the opportunity," he told Paramount.
The 17-year-old is the younger brother of Alou Kuol, who earned a move to German side Stuttgart off the back of a sensational, star-making 2020-21 season with the Mariners.
"He's got plenty of work to do but the kid is very, very good and he's part of our family here," Montgomery said of Garang.
"We've brought him in from Shepparton as well. He's only young but has massive potential."
The evening, however, was one to forget for the Phoenix.
Ravaged by injury and COVID, Ufuk Talay's side, though still above the Mariners on the table with equal games played, has now lost four of their last six and their last two hitouts by a combined score of 11-0.
"You can see that we're desperately in need of certain players coming back into the team," Talay said.
"The lack of having that depth is starting to hurt us."
Phoenix will look to regroup away to Western United on Saturday, the same day the Mariners host fifth-placed Sydney.
