Canberra United have another chance to cut the gap on the Liberty A-League’s top sides as they welcome Adelaide United to McKellar Park.
Riding a three-game winning streak, a fourth straight triumph on Saturday would allow Canberra to rub out a three-point gap to defending champions Melbourne Victory with just five games remaining.
Victory do not play this weekend, offering Canberra the opportunity to underline their title credentials by winning their game in hand just weeks after they copped back-to-back 5-0 defeats.
“Every game we’ve had has been crucial leading up to this and we’re ready for the challenge,” defender Kennedy Faulknor said.
We’ve proved that the last two games and we’re ready to just keep showing that we’re here and we’re ready to make it into that top-four.
“It’s been an amazing few weeks, just to get those wins back after our two losses.
“We really came together as a team and figured out what we needed to do … it’s working and we’re just hoping to keep it rolling.”
Canberra had not won three successive games since March 2021 and they are looking for their first four-game winning run since January 2016.
It will not prove easy against an Adelaide team that have been tough to break down this campaign.
Despite failing to win a game in eight outings – and remaining scoreless in five of those – the Reds still share the league’s fourth-best defensive record.
Adelaide also need to find another major avenue to goal after leading-scorer Chelsie Dawber’s loan spell ended and she returned to parent club Chicago Red Stars.
Teen forward Emilia Murray will miss the trip to the nation’s capital because of Young Matildas duty, while Canberra have been hit with the double blow of losing regular starters Sasha Grove and Chloe Lincoln for the same reason.
“Chloe and Sasha have been huge for us … but we’ve had a lot of players step in and step up. Having that depth in our team has been good for us,” Faulknor said.
“We’re going to try to keep it moving, get those wins, and hopefully when they come back we’ll just keep moving forward.
“Every team we’ve played has threats and we’re just going to focus on our game and what we can do and how we can expose them.”
