Defender Jon McKain has no idea why the Wellington Phoenix have enjoyed such good fortune against Sydney but he hopes it continues when the two teams meet at the Sydney Football Stadium this Sunday.
Since the Phoenix entered the Hyundai A-League competition in the 2007/08 season they have won three and drawn one of the six matches played between the two sides, including two wins away from home.
“There are just some teams that you’ve got an uncanny knack of getting a result against them and for us it seems to be Sydney,” McKain said.
“I don’t know what it is. I’d like to know so we could use it every week. It’s one of those things. We’ve got a good record against them and hopefully it will continue.”
The Phoenix have been forced to play catch-up football in their opening three games of the season after conceding early goals and McKain admitted it was something the players were desperate to put right this weekend.
“We were joking after the game (against Brisbane) it would be strange for us to lead a game and see how we go about playing it because we seem to want to play when we are behind,” he said.
“We’ve started slowly in pretty much all the games we’ve played so it’s an aspect we’ll talk about this week and hopefully rectify on Sunday.”
“Sydney has lot of quality and we can’t afford to keep going behind. It’s good to start on an even keel and even pop one in early so we can put them on the back foot.”
He added: “Up front they are dangerous with Jonny (Aloisi) and Brosquie (Alex Brosque) as well. They’ve got someone like Steve Corica behind and he may be getting on in years but he’s still a quality player. They’ve got quality all over the park.”
“But we’re a bit of a bogey team for them so hopefully this weekend we can notch up something special for the start our season.”
McKain comes off contract with the Phoenix at the end of the season but says he only priority at the moment is making sure things go well on the pitch.
“You want to be playing football and the rest will take care of itself. In a few months I’ll sit down with the club and the people concerned and try and sort out the future then,” the 26-year-old former Socceroo said.
“Now it’s really about playing football and getting some points and results for the Phoenix because that’s what we all want. That’s what all the supporters want and hopefully we can have a good year and make the finals this year which is our goal.”
