It will be only 10 days between the Round 2 Melbourne Derby win and Tuesday night’s Westfield FFA Cup Semi Final but City Head Coach John van’t Schip is preparing his side for a very different reaction from a fired up Victory side.
City come into the contest off a narrow loss to Perth on Friday night but there is no lack of confidence in the camp, with defensive mistakes costing City, rather than being outplayed by Kenny Lowe’s side.
Their recent Derby success will also motivate van’t Schip’s men on Tuesday night and the Dutchman is fully aware that the magic of the cup will create a much tighter contest.
“We know that there is going to be a different Victory out there tomorrow to the game we had a few days ago,” van’t Schip said.
“It’s just making sure that the boys are in a good head space, that we take things away from the last game, take things away from the first game that we played Victory and it’s all those things that we prepare for.
“We have to make sure that everyone is at maximum performance and then it’s on the day on how things happen. Now we focus on what we have to do, we are working hard on that but we also have to deal with an opponent.”
“As we know, every game is new and different. We played different Derbies the last few years, you win one and the next one it’s totally different. The only difference this time is that it’s over a very short period you play each other two times so we just focus on what we have to do, what we want to do, the way that we want to play and that’s it.”
The short turnaround between matches has ruled out Nicolas Colazo who will visit the specialist this week to assess his ear injury that progressed from his Round 1 head clash.
Question marks still remain on the state of Bruce Kamau however with the winger completing Monday’s session but there is still uncertainty on whether the effects of a ball to the head will linger for this match.
In positive news, van’t Schip confirmed Luke Brattan will be involved after finishing Friday’s match hobbling. The influential midfielder looks fit after dealing with cramp in his calf and will be right for Tuesday’s Semi Final.
City take on Victory in another compelling chapter of the Melbourne Derby for the chance to qualify for the FFA Cup Semi Final, kick-off 7.30pm. Click here to get your tickets for the match.
