Western Sydney Wanderers boss Tony Popovic says his side must build on the momentum of last week’s win when they host a wounded Reds outfit on Saturday night at Wanderland.
The Red and Black are equal first with Brisbane Roar after last week’s hard-earned 1-0 victory in Newcastle.
But on Saturday night at what should be a heaving Wanderland, Wanderers face an almighty challenge against a Adelaide outfit desperate to rebound after their 14-match unbeaten run was snapped last week.
Hyundai A-League preview: Wanderers v Adelaide
And with the fight for the Premiers Plate likely to come down to the final round, Popovic insists his side’s consistency will hold them in good stead for the run home.
“We’ve been pretty consistent the whole year, we’ve been challenging at the top for pretty much the whole season,” Popovic told reporters on Friday.
“Now we’re at the point where you want to get momentum, you want to make it consecutive wins and we have the chance to do that.
“It will be a different type of game to what last week was against Newcastle, we have to be prepared for that.
“Adelaide is having a fantastic season, they’ve been on a great run. We want to make sure that we’re not the ones that are a part of them getting back to winning ways.
“It will be a difficult game but at home in front of our fans we believe we can win again and stay up the top.”
Popovic said last week’s clean sheet – their first in nine games – has buoyed his side and believes goalkeeper Liam Reddy is gradually finding his feet between the sticks after replacing Andrew Redmayne.
“He’s [Reddy] came into the team and he’s settling in well. It was good for the whole squad to have that clean sheet last week, we haven’t had one in a while. I thought as a whole we defended well,” Popovic said.
“There was a lot of desperation showed in difficult periods, whether it was the front players or the players at the back or the goalkeeper, there was a real resilient look about the group.
“They were really determined to shut out the opponent and we managed to do that. Hopefully now we can continue on with that and make it difficult for the opponents to get opportunities. “
Western Sydney and Adelaide have shared the spoils in both matches this season, a 1-1 draw at Coopers Stadium in Round 2 before playing out a scoreless draw at Pirtek Stadium in Round 13.
