Adelaide United have again turned Hindmarsh Stadium into a fortress as the Reds look to make it an A-League record eight consecutive wins from nine matches at home this season when they host Melbourne Heart on Friday night.
United played out a nil-all draw against Newcastle Jets on the opening day of the season in Adelaide and haven’t looked back, registering victory in every home game since and equalling a club record.
A win against the Heart on Friday and United will equal Melbourne Victory’s run of eight consecutive wins at home during the 2008-09 season.
The Reds could only manage four home wins from 14 games last season and with the arrival of Dutch coach Rini Coolen, United are once again a formidable opponent at home.
Under Coolen, United are playing an entertaining, attacking brand of football that has seen the Reds turn last campaign’s wooden spoon into a race for the minor premiership -trailing league leader Brisbane Roar by seven points behind with two games in hand.
“You have to feel something special when you play at home – you’re own ground, you’re own crowd, your own ball,” Coolen said on Thursday.
“You use the crowd because they do well as your 12th man and it makes you feel a little bit stronger so we have to continue that and win our games. Even more important for me though is to play that level of football we prefer.”
Coolen admitted clash against the Heart looms as a danger game for United with Melbourne winless in their last seven starts.
Heart’s last win came in early November when they defeated North Queensland Fury 3-2 and John van’t Schip’s men will be gunning to snap their losing streak.
“They can play really good football and they have real good football players,” he said.
“They haven’t won for a few games so their confidence will be a little bit less but still it’s a dangerous team with a lot of good individual players and a lot of speed in the game. They are a real good team so it will be a tough game like every game.”
The Reds ran out 3-2 victors when the sides last met at Hindmarsh Stadium, before recording a 2-0 win at AAMI Park last month.
Coolen said he won’t be focussing on his opponents too much, but added he is planning to extend his compatriot’s woes with another polished performance.
“You need a kind of game plan against every team, we’ll have one tomorrow as well,” he said.
“But more important than that, for our team, is when we have the ball is that we play our own formation and our own system of football. You have to respect the quality of your opponent and we blocked that in our last game. We’ll try to do it again tomorrow.”
“At the moment I’m not worried how they’re going to play, or who they’re going to play. I prefer to look at my own team first.”
