Attacking midfielder Dario Vidosic is more than aware of the danger that an increasingly desperate Wellington Phoenix poses on Sunday.
Attacking midfielder Dario Vidosic is more than aware of the danger that an increasingly desperate Wellington Phoenix poses on Sunday.
The Phoenix currently holds up the bottom of the Hyundai A-League table six points (or two wins) outside the top six.
With six rounds remaining, four of Wellington-s remaining games are at home and despite their position, Phoenix Coach Ricki Herbert declared after their loss to Brisbane Roar that his side is refusing to give up hope while it is still possible for them to make the finals.
Wellington could arguably have counted themselves unlucky not to take something from the game against the Roar as they created more than their fair share of chances but could not find the back of the net.
The situation leaves the Phoenix with nothing to lose, and combined with them traditionally being an extremely tough nut to crack in their familiar surroundings of Westpac Stadium, it makes this weekend-s trip across the ditch a more than testing one for the Reds.
“Every team in the A-League is a danger,” Vidosic said.
“You-ve seen through every season of the league that the bottom team can beat the top team and you saw that with Perth beating the Central Coast last weekend.”
“If you-re not out there going at 100 per cent you won-t get the result you want.”
Putting Vidosic on extra alert is that the Reds have struggled away from home of late, and it is a trend that Vidosic says the squad is determined to reverse as it attempts to hold off the chasing pack and keep its chances of a top two finish alive.
The Reds- travelling party will leave for Wellington on Friday and arrive late that night in order to give them added time to prepare and ensure there would be no excuses to not be on their game come kick-off.
“It-s a tough trip, it-s the first time we-ll be travelling over there this season, so we-ll prepare well, we-ll go two days before and we-ll make sure we-re ready,” Vidosic said.
“We-re not proud of our away record. We want to win these games, we-ve got a great record at home but you need the away results as well.”
“They (Wellington) need a win. They-re sitting bottom and they need to get a result against us and we need a result as well so it-s a game we-re really looking forward to.”
While knowing the team has to improve collectively from last Saturday-s defeat in Sydney, Vidosic, who is enjoying his best season since he signed with the Reds prior to the 2011/12 season, wants to make up for what he admits was not one of his better games against the Sky Blues.
“It-s been going well this season but I still want to be a lot better than it is at the moment,” Vidosic assessed of his own performances this season.
“I still think I can be a lot better, I wasn-t very happy with the performance individually against Sydney.”
A firing Vidosic would certainly go a long way to helping the Reds- chances of returning from Wellington with three points.
