Central Coast goalkeeper Danny Vukovic is desperate to keep a clean sheet in this Sunday’s final round Hyundai A-League match against Adelaide.
The Mariners have not yet secured a berth in the finals, but their fate will be known on Friday night when Melbourne hosts Wellington. Any result other than a Phoenix victory will ensure Central Coast a fourth place finish.
Should Wellington pull off an unlikely victory then the Mariners will need at least a draw against the top-of-the-table Adelaide to make the finals and a fifth clean sheet of the season will guarantee that.
“Everyone is very excited, we always like playing against Adelaide and do pretty good against them at home so we’re hoping we can do the same again on Sunday,” Vukovic said.
“They’re a great side and they’ve done well this year, but we need to be on our game on Sunday and hopefully we can get the points and go into the finals series full of confidence.”
The young shotstopper sees this weekend’s match against finals-bound Adelaide as an important stepping stone for the finals, and believes his side’s defensive efforts must be improved.
“I think it’s very important going into the finals series, it’s sort of a different style of football, it’s a lot more high pressure and if you’re holding teams out, not letting them score goals, you’re gonna be successful and we need to start keeping those clean sheets to do well in this finals series,” he said.
The 23-year-old was selected in Pim Verbeek’s Socceroos squad for Wednesday’s Asian Cup qualifier against Indonesia and the confidence gained from that trip will have him in good stead for the Mariners’ finals campaign should they make it.
“I knew the team was being selected, I thought I had a chance and lo and behold I got picked, so very happy,” he said.
“It’s always great for your confidence being selected in the national team, especially going away and training with the boys and training with the coaches over there.”
“You always come back full of confidence and so it’ll be good to go over there and come back with that confidence going into the finals series.”
