Adelaide United coach John Kosmina believes his side can do the ‘job’ when they take on Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park on Wednesday.
Adelaide United coach John Kosmina believes his side can do the ‘job’ when they take on Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park on Wednesday.
Since Kosmina’s instalment as coach the Reds have been unbeaten, grinding out a hard-fought draw against Sydney FC before claiming their first victory in just over a month last Friday night against Wellington Phoenix at home.
However United’s sudden rise has coincided with an impressive Melbourne Heart resurgence that has seen the Hyundai A-League’s youngest club catapult to second on the table.
Heart were winless in early November when they drew 1-1 with Adelaide in the corresponding fixture before a confident 3-0 victory over Newcastle a week later was the catalyst for a remarkable turnaround.
That turnaround has seen the Heart record seven victories in eight games with their last defeat coming some six weeks ago against the table-topping Central Coast Mariners.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s clash – the second in line for the A-League’s marathon day of games – Kosmina said his side were primed for Heart despite the short turnaround from last Friday’s win.
“I’ve been happy with what we’ve done on the park this week … I think we can do the job in Melbourne with the players that we’ve got,” Kosmina said.
“Melbourne are a very solid side and they are well structured and disciplined – they work very well as a unit and that’s what we have to be aware of.
“If you went player for the player is there much difference between the two sides? I don’t think so, but in terms of how their structure is and how cohesive they are they are probably a little bit ahead of us.”
Due to a congested A-League schedule the Reds will be back in action only three days later after the Heart clash agains Brisbane Roar on Saturday at Hindmarsh Stadium.
Although he couldn’t be blamed for having one eye on the home fixture with the Roar, Kosmina preferred to focus on the Heart before looking ahead.
“It’s a short turnaround from last week and it’s an even shorter turnaround to Brisbane on Saturday but its one step at a time,” Kosmina said.
“We will look at what we can do against Melbourne Heart on Wednesday and go there and try and get a result, and then we will worry about what we do against Brisbane after that.”
The 55-year-old did concede however that his side may be heavily rotated in a bid to conserve energy for the Roar game with a number of players under minor injury clouds.
“We’ll see how they pull up, probably not even so much Thursday but more how they are on Friday morning,” Kosmina said.
“I’ll see how we go with guys like Bruce (Djite) who has got a little bit of a niggle, Serge (van Dijk) who is still getting back to full fitness … and Nigel Boogaard who hasn’t played a lot of football this season.”
Former Adelaide captain Jon McKain will not be risked against the Heart after succumbing to a knee injury sustained against Wellington last week.
McKain won’t travel with the squad and remain in Adelaide due to the impending birth of his third child.
Spase Dilevski will also miss with a groin injury however former Australian Institute of Sport graduate Jacob Melling will make his debut having officially begun his senior contract with the Reds on January 1.
Kosmina was looking forward to the versatile midfielder’s first game, describing the 17-year-old as a ‘tough’ character.
“He’s tough – mentally and physically … he’s got a little bit about him, he’s a character and he’s versatile,” Kosmina said.
“I could tell him to go play centre-half (back) and he would give 150 percent.”
