The Mariners will play Adelaide United in the second A-League match at Canberra Stadium this year with the South Australian team on the rebound from its eighth consecutive loss to Melbourne Victory.

Within that run are two grand final losses in what has turned into Australian soccer's biggest hoodoo.

Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar said yesterday he couldn't argue with the reality.

''Of course that's going to get slammed in our face and we've got to accept that,'' Vidmar said.

''That's the facts you can't hide away from the facts. Melbourne are a good side we just seem to continually struggle against them.''

But McKinna said it would be a different prospect in the ACT on Saturday when the Mariners, who are also coming off a loss last weekend, meet Adelaide.

''It's going to be a completely different game,'' McKinna said.

''I believe the week before against Sydney, they did very well with 10 men and it was a great result in the second half against Melbourne. ''Adelaide need to win, we need to win. And they always do well against us, they just match up very well.

''They showed some good fight and determination and that's what we expect, a hard, high-tempo game.''

McKinna said yesterday he was likely to tweak his attack to turn around the Mariners' 2-1 loss last weekend.

The Central Coast mentor said apart from the first 12minutes when the Jets spun out to a 2-0 lead, he was fairly happy with this team's performance, but wants more clinical finishes this weekend.

''Defensively we still have a very good record, really it was only that 12-minute lapse that caught us out against Newcastle,'' McKinna said.

''Apart from that I thought we dominated the game and we just needed to finish a few more of our chances.

''Midfield we are doing OK, although probably not as good as [the game against] Brisbane so there might be a change there but there won't be wholesale changes.