“Brisbane are the focus,” Mulvey insists.

It's little surprise to see the Mariners boss so insistent on keeping momentum headed in the right direction.

Despite torrid early season form having such an impact that some pundits questioned the right of his side to be in the league, after a 2-1 win over Melbourne City, the Mariners now have good will firmly on their side.

"We’ve won a game, which is fantastic, but the strong performances against Sydney FC and Wellington Phoenix put it in perspective," he continued.

"I’m expecting us to have a very strong performance against the Roar.

The Mariners were keen to emphasise the impact of Matt Simon, whose technically inconsistent but perennially challenging performances have energised Central Coast and were crucial to the Mariners’ duck-breaking victory over Melbourne City last time out.

The Wild Boar from Hilton Moor. The Earl of East Gosford. The Wizard of Woy Woy. The Albino Messi, The Saratoga Saviour. Just a few of the club’s choice nicknames for their spiritual leader.

"Matt's immense and I don't like to single out individual players but Tom Hiariej also deserves praise. He’s had a very injury hit season.

"(Jonathan Aspropotamitis) is another, a young lad on a journey and he’s very focused.

"But the main message we need to convey is that we’ve won a game, but we need to kick on.

"The last 8 to 10 weeks we’ve been talking about perseverance. It’s a very strong thing to have in your armour, but we need to prove that we can do it again.

"We’ve had a kill, now we need to be in their face. Nothing less than (the performance against) Melbourne City is acceptable."

For Mulvey personally, it’s another challenge against his former club, who controversially sacked the reigning Premiership and Championship winning manager just six months into his next season.

If there are uncovered wounds still seething beneath the surface, the Englishman is too experienced to let them seep. He knows if results don’t continue to improve, he faces a far worse exit at Gosford.

“It’s just another game,” he said.

“We played there at the beginning of the season and there was a lot of hullabaloo about that, but I’m a Central Coast person now.”