The Isuzu UTE A-League season is heating up as teams chase a finals berth.
Wellington Phoenix are firmly in the mix to feature in the post-season and they’ll be looking to claim another three points against lowly Perth Glory on Wednesday before flying home to New Zealand.
The other midweek action will see Western Sydney Wanderers host finals-chasing Central Coast Mariners.
Read on for individual match previews of the two ALM fixtures, with the games available to watch LIVE via Paramount+:
Wellington wary of depleted Glory in ALM
Anna Harrington, AAP
Wellington Phoenix will be wary of a depleted Perth Glory team that have nothing to lose when they play their final A-League Men game before returning to New Zealand.
Perth are winless in 12 matches and sit squarely at the bottom of the table after their 6-1 thrashing at the hands of Newcastle Jets, while sixth-placed Wellington’s 4-1 win over Western United got their bid for finals back on track.
“These teams are probably harder to play against. Perth Glory have got nothing to lose,” Wellington head coach Ufuk Talay said ahead of the team’s long-awaited return home to face the Central Coast Mariners on Sunday.
“They’re playing a lot of young players who have got a lot to gain if they want to stay at that club or even make a move somewhere else.
“With these games it’s very important that we stay focused on the job at hand.
“We need to go out there and if we get three points, it’s a massive boost for us coming back to New Zealand.”
Wellington left-back James McGarry is available for selection, after missing two games through COVID-19.
Interim Glory head coach Ruben Zadkovich confirmed Adrian Sardinero had torn his ACL, while noting the tight schedule meant he couldn’t dwell too long on the Newcastle loss.
“Here we are at Perth Glory with 13 of our 23 man roster unavailable, our captain out, our marquees out, our foreigners out, our leading goalscorer out, our record goalscorer at the club out,” he said.
“When you add it all up, we’re playing a game every three days.
“We’ve got seven games in (22) days and five of those seven are away from home with basically whatever’s left from that first-grade squad that is fit and available and 11 or 12 of my youth team.
“If you take all of that into the context of the situation we’re in, then you soon realise there’s not much point in dwelling on that result the other night.”
The game, which will be played at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, is set to be goalkeeper Liam Reddy’s 400th national league match.
Perth Glory v Wellington Phoenix
Isuzu UTE A-League
Wednesday, April 13 2022
NETSTRATA JUBILEE STADIUM
Kick-off: 7.05pm AEST
MATCH CENTRE | HOW TO WATCH
Wanderers on notice with plenty to play for
Anna Harrington, AAP
Western Sydney Wanderers’ finals hopes are all but dashed but head coach Mark Rudan said his team have plenty to play for when they take on top-six aspirants Central Coast Mariners.
A 1-1 draw with Brisbane left both Western Sydney and the Roar nine points adrift of sixth-placed Wellington — with Western Sydney staring down the barrel of a fifth straight campaign without finals.
“It makes it tougher. The focus remains the same, the mentality of the team has to remain the same and we’ve got a lot of points still up for grabs and we’re going to make it extremely difficult for everybody else,” Rudan told AAP.
“At the same time it gives me an opportunity to have a real good look at the players and whether we decide to start to really focus on next season.
“There’s a lot of players coming out of contract as well.
“So it gives me a great opportunity to see everything about them, on the ball, on the park, off the park as well. Their mentality and their attitude.
“Sometimes you think there’s not much to play for but there’s always something to play for. There always is.”
Eighth-placed Central Coast will be aiming for a quick bounce back from their 5-0 loss to Sydney FC, against a Wanderers side who will be without suspended goalkeeper Daniel Margush.
Margush cost the Wanderers two points when his footwork let him down in the 89th minute, which led to him bringing down Brisbane’s Alex Parsons with a textbook rugby tackle.
He was shown a straight red, with Jay O’Shea slotting the penalty past substitute goalkeeper Tomas Mejias for a 1-1 draw.
“It’s important that we all get around him and we’ve done that,” Rudan said. “We move on, in football you’ve got to move on very quickly.
“Adversity happens, these sort of moments happen and how you come back from it are the most important things. That’s now going to be the test for Daniel.”
Mejias is no guarantee to start in goal, while Rudan flagged Ramy Najjarine would return.
Western Sydney Wanderers v Central Coast Mariners
Isuzu UTE A-League
Wednesday, April 13 2022
COMMBANK STADIUM
Kick-off: 7.05pm AEST
MATCH CENTRE | HOW TO WATCH
