Adelaide United Striker Bruce Djite still remains optimistic as he eyes off top spot ahead of their trip to Wellington.
Despite the lapse last week, Melbourne Victory also dropped points to Wellington, while Perth Glory managed to come away with just one point.
“I think it’s just a bit of that inconsistency that we’ve succumb to this season a little bit.
“We go to New Zealand this weekend where we look forward to the trip. They’re a quality opposition and they play good football as well, and it will be a good test for us.
“If we’re serious about finishing in the top spot, or even second on the ladder, these are the games that you have to win because even though we didn’t get the result last weekend, we’re still in a pretty positive position as Victory lost and Perth only drew.
And even though the team has suffered a couple of blows to the defense, the clubs equal top goal scorer doesn’t see that affecting the result considering they’ve won with injuries earlier in the season.
“We’ve got first eleven players that are injured and that has an impact, but in saying that we’ve got good depth and we’ve won games without them before.
“It’s important that we make sure that the boys coming back are 110%, they’re not rushed back or anything like that because the worst thing is to have an injury and succumb to another one in quick successions.”
And making sure that players are fully fit is more important than ever. Hitting the tail end of the season with only eight games remaining before finals, the Reds must take it game by game.
“It’s game by game, he (Josep Gombau) keeps telling us eight finals now, every game is so important,” said Djite.
“We’re playing in front of demanding fans, playing in front of hostile away fans; we’re playing in front of big crowds. (There’s) a lot at stake you know, a lot of expectations.
“It’s a pressure situation we understand, we put pressure on ourselves to achieve anything that we have till now, we achieve going forward, so it is like eight finals really.”
And with a long flight ahead, the Striker believes there is no excuses seeing as their opposition has to do it week in and week out and are sitting equal on points.
“They’ve (Wellington) got to travel every second week, they make that trip, we only do it once or twice a year and Wellington are sitting equal points with us.
“(So) that’s not an excuse, that’s not even something we’re considering. We’ve got to go there two days early and we’ve got to get the right result.”
Adelaide United depart Thursday afternoon, a day earlier in preparation for Saturday’s clash with Wellington Phoenix. The team will undergo a training session on Friday afternoon in Wellington where they will have a chance to train at the Hutt Recreation Ground.
Adelaide United travel to take on Wellington Phoenix in Round 20 of the Hyundai 2014/15 A-League season on Saturday, 7 March at the Hutt Recreation Ground, Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand. Kick off at 2:30pm ACDT (5:00pm local time).
