City coach John van’t Schip believes Saturday’s match against Sydney could be a good opportunity for his side to build momentum towards the Hyundai A-League Finals Series.
With only six regular season matches left this season, the Dutchman believes timing his side’s run to the final will be crucial if they are to compete for space at the top of the league’s ladder.
“With six games to go and the finals after that, it’s about momentum,” van’t Schip said.
“It’s that close at this moment and having a good run in the end can lift you very quickly up the ladder. Teams are going to (play each other and) lose points in this period.
“It’s just about having a good run in this league and you can make really good steps, especially in this part at the end, whoever can make a really good run now is a good chance to finish first.”
van’t Schip and City will first have to overcome a Sydney FC outfit who will be missing a number of players this weekend due to a range of injuries and suspensions but the Head Coach says the Sky Blues have enough depth and momentum to make Saturday’s match a tricky fixture.
“They are coming back from a great win (in the Asian Champions League), it gave the team a boost,” he said.
“Other players are going to get an opportunity, players that are fresh and have an opportunity to impress the coach but we should be focused on ourselves knowing that they are going to have some different players in the lineup and play a bit a different.
That’s why we have to prepared for that. It can only be more dangerous because you don’t know what to expect and we have to make sure we are focused on our own gameplay.
City see the return of Connor Chapman and Harry Novillo to this week’s side and with Aaron Hughes still in contention for selection, van’t Schip admits that his current selection headaches can only be a good thing for the side.
“Having a lot of players coming back now gives good competition,” he said.
“In this period, it’s about getting results and performing and if you are not performing, then other players are ready to step in because the group is almost totally fit.
“We have almost all the players back now to full fitness so it gives us to look, to see and change some things that we don’t like or keep it the way it is because they are performing good and that’s the way it should be.”
