Queensland Roar striker Sergio van Dijk believes his team can be considered a legitimate Championship contender if they can beat the Melbourne Victory on Friday night.
After a last gasp 3-2 victory over the Phoenix at home on Sunday, the Roar now find themselves in second place on the Hyundai A-League table and well placed for a tilt at their first Championship.
But a fixture away against Melbourne is always a tough assignment and van Dijk said his side will need to play even better than they have been over the past month to take all three points this weekend.
“Melbourne is a different story,” van Dijk said. “I think they have the best squad of the whole league but you never know what happens in football.”
“It’s going to be a hard game but we won over there in the first round so I always keep my hopes.”
“We had some opportunities (against Wellington) but we made wrong decisions sometimes and that’s the thing you have to work on, especially against Melbourne.”
“You have to be clinical and score when you can otherwise they will do it. If you beat Melbourne you make a really big step in the league.”
Melbourne was the last team to defeat Queensland – way back in Round 11 – but since then the Roar have collected three wins at home and two draws on the road.
In the past three games van Dijk has scored three goals and the talented Dutchman will be looking to continue that trend against the Victory.
“You see when you score one goal as a striker you get extra confidence and that’s with every goal,” he said.
“Now I’ve scored three in a row and that’s good for the future.”
