City Head Coach John van’t Schip feels his side is hitting its straps at the right time of the season as they prepare to face league-leaders Brisbane Roar on Friday night.
After two consecutive wins and clean sheets, City sit fourth on the Hyundai A-League ladder and a win on Friday night would see them temporarily head to the summit with the Dutchman admitting the recent run of form could be a telling sign in the lead up to the Finals Series.
“I thinks it was coming,” van’t Schip said.
“Even before the last two games, we could see good signs of not conceding that much shots on goal so we started building on that and I think it’s shown in the last two games.
“Again, we have four big finals still to come and we have to work on keeping on what we have done in the last few weeks. Tomorrow is going to be a great test.”
“It’s good to know we can produce that kind of result and effort but on the day itself, there’s too many other things to be aware of so we start on zero again and make sure we’re doing the things we’re working on and even better.
“We’ve shown good moments but we’ve also shown some moments that we were not there. We know that and we have to be more and more consistent and that’s happening and hopefully tomorrow we can put another one on that.”
Brisbane is the only side in the top six van’t Schip’s side haven’t defeated this season and the possibility of adding the Roar as another notch on the belt coming into the finals will be an important mental step for City.
“It’s good for any team to know that you can win against any opponent in the league,” he said.
“It doesn’t always say anything but of course it will be good to have that on the stats that we have shown we can beat every team in the top six and Brisbane is one that we still have to put in that column.
“Brisbane are known for their attacking way of playing but also they’ve changed their approach a bit, where they are not as attacking as they were at first.
“They started defending more and breaking like they did against Victory so we have to be prepared for a team that can break quickly and also knows how to play in the half of the opponent.
“It’s not for nothing they are on top. For us, it’s a challenge to show that we are contenders in the race to be one of the teams that are going from the title.”
van’t Schip told the media on Thursday that Anthony Caceres will return to this week’s side after recovering from a quad strain however Wade Dekker is set to miss the remainder of the season with an ankle ligament injury sustained against Adelaide last Friday.
City take on Brisbane this Friday night at AAMI Park, kick-off 7:40pm. Make sure you are there for one of the biggest matches of the season! Purchace your tickets now!
