Melbourne City coach Rado Vidosic has hinted that the form of A-League Women leaders Sydney FC has been helped by generous scheduling as the two sides face off in a table-topping clash on Saturday.
After playing fellow finals hopefuls Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United twice in their opening six games, second-placed City travel to Kogarah Oval aiming to cut the the Sky Blues’ four-point lead at the top of the ladder.
Sydney, who beat Canberra 6-0 last time out, are undefeated to start the season with goalkeeper Jada Whyman yet to concede since playing Newcastle on the opening weekend.
But Vidosic was confident his battle-hardened side could be the ones to bring Sydney’s run to an end.
“We’ve played four games against top-four teams and they haven’t played a top-four team yet,” said Vidosic.
“It’s a bit unrealistic to measure their success. They’ve played six of their games at home in Sydney and haven’t been outside NSW and they haven’t played the teams in the top four.
“It was a very dominant performance against Canberra. The way they played and scored their goals and controlled the game was unbelievable.
“They are very strong, full of confidence but as I say it’s not about what they have done so far, (because) against us it should be much harder.”
Vidosic will welcome back defender Winonah Heatley from a Matildas training camp after she was cut by national team coach Tony Gustavsson prior to their Asian Cup campaign.
Heatley flew out of Dubai after the Matildas’ last training sessions and Vidosic said he would monitor her condition before choosing whether to start her or not.
“She trained with us this week and then we need to assess how she feels before this trip to Sydney,” he added.
“We still don’t know how she is going to go but she got through her training sessions the other day so she should be available.”
