aleagues.com.au is your one-stop shop for the best of the pre-weekend media activity ahead of what’s set to be an enthralling Round 21 in the Liberty A-League.
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‘When something’s out of your hands, it’s horrible!’
Wellington Phoenix remain an outside chance of booking a spot in the Liberty A-League Finals Series.
But if they hope to be there by the end of the regular season, sixth-placed Western Sydney Wanderers must drop points to Western United on Saturday night.
Wellington are five points off the pace in the top six hunt but an emphatic 4-0 win over Adelaide United in midweek breathed life back into their finals push.
The ‘Nix play Canberra on Sunday after the Wanderers and Western United face off on Saturday; Wellington are five points behind Western Sydney with two games to play.
Phoenix head coach Paul Temple hasn’t decided whether or not to gather his playing group to watch the crucial Saturday fixture, as he experiences the discomfort of fate slipping out of their hands.
“Maybe we’ll watch as a team and suffer together watching it for 90 minutes through your hands,” Temple said.
“Or maybe we’ll go play golf or play bowling or something and look at the score later! I don’t know.
“It’s one of those things; when something’s out of your hands it’s horrible to be watching because it is what it is.”
Wellington face bottom-placed Canberra in their penultimate game of the season and, if Western Sydney take a point or less from Western United, Temple’s side can jump to within three points of the top six ahead of the final round.
The Wanderers and Wellington play each other in Round 22 in what could be an epic end to the season and the top-six fight. Newcastle Jets are also in the mix to secure sixth spot, beginning Round 21 three points behind Western Sydney and two ahead of Wellington.
Temple has eased concerns regarding the fitness of striker Mariana Speckmaier who has seven goals in her last seven games but was withdrawn before the hour mark of Wednesday’s win over Adelaide.
“The medical team were a little worried,” he said.
“She’s had a hamstring injury going a few weeks back, did her return to play and we built her slowly up to 90 minutes. They just didn’t want her doing three (90-minute games) in a week because of the potential reoccurrence of soreness and that leading to something else.
“She’s our top goalscorer, she’s been important to us and I think it’s good for the squad… you have to have that trust in what you’ve got on the bench and Micky (Robertson) was fantastic. She came on and contributed to creating three goals, scored one herself. It was the perfect scenario, really, for a coach.
“(Speckmaier) is good, she’s still a little sore today with the amount of minutes she’s played after coming back so we’ll just manage her for the next few days. She should be good to go Sunday.”
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‘We’ve got nothing to lose, we’ve got no reason to be scared of anybody’
Central Coast Mariners have won four games on the bounce and are flying into both Premiership and top-two consideration.
Emily Husband’s side have hit form at the perfect time and the league’s newest team is shaping as a prominent figure in the silverware conversation in the club’s first season back in the Liberty A-League.
The fourth-placed Mariners are facing an unenviable run home, with third-placed Melbourne City and Western United (second) on the agenda prior to the end of the season.
But the equation is simple for the Gosford side: beat both City and Western and they’ll finish inside the top two – and potentially above Sydney FC as the Premiers depending on the current leaders’ results.
“We’re in a fantastic place at the moment,” said head coach Husband in the lead-in to Round 21.
“We’ve got nothing to lose from this point forward. We’ve come in and, from a lot of people’s perspectives, overachieved.
“So now we want to keep on putting pressure on the teams above and the only way we can do that is by continuing to turn up every game, be fearless and want to win every game… we’ve got absolutely nothing to lose, we’ve got no reason to be scared of anybody.”
Up next is a clash with City; these two sides last met in December when Rola Badawiya’s opener for the Mariners was cancelled out by a long-range stunner by Rebekah Stott to earn City a share of the spoils.
“Everyone knows Melbourne (City) play the best football in the league, undoubtedly,” Husband said.
“The way they keep possession and move off the ball is fantastic and it’s a credit to them. We’re defensively always quite structured, so I think it will be a nice matchup and interesting to see how we go.”
Mariners striker Badawiya added fuel to the fire ahead of the top-four clash: “We’re not stopping for no one – especially Melbourne.
“The last time we played them I feel like we deserved to win. This time, we’re not taking no for an answer.”
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Sydney star keeping squad grounded as history beckons
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No team in A-Leagues history, men’s or women’s, has ever won four consecutive Premierships.
Sydney FC are inching closer to becoming the first; a win over Adelaide United this weekend would make it a near certainty but star winger Cortnee Vine is refusing to ponder the significance of the achievement until the job is done.
“Personally, I’m not sure how everyone else approaches it, but for me, I just focus on each game as it is,” Vine said.
“I don’t look at it like this game is going to be the Premiership-winning game, and (that) there’s so much pressure, fourth premiership, history-making. That’s all in the background.
“All I focus on is we (play) Adelaide this week, we need to win. That’s my mindset towards every game at the moment – especially towards the back end.
“We need to win, not let it come down to anyone else making the decision for us. It’s in the palm of our hands – and we know that. We just need to go out there and want to win games.”
Sydney are one point ahead of both Western United and Melbourne City, with a game in hand over every team in the league. That catchup game will take place on Wednesday, March 27 against Canberra United.
The Sky Blues could find themselves in a position where the Premiers Plate is all-but won this weekend; should they defeat Adelaide and Western United fall to the Wanderers, a draw between Melbourne City and Canberra United would give Sydney a three-point lead over City in second place with just one game to play for all other teams in the league.
Vine says her side’s seven-game unbeaten streak – which has featured four wins from four games at Leichhardt Oval – has instilled confidence in the playing squad to take care of the Reds at home and put one hand on the Premiers Plate.
“We’re loving the crowds that are coming to Leichhardt at the moment. The atmosphere there, the ground, we’re just enjoying it all now.
“We used to look at Jubilee (Stadium) like our fortress but I think now it has turned – especially once we got our first win there… we look forward to every game at Leichhardt now.”
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