Western Sydney Wanderers coach Tony Popovic described it as a “very special day for this club” after football’s newest franchise rocketed into an almost unbelievable second spot on the A-League ladder.
The Wanderers notched up five wins on the trot with their recent 2-1 win over the Newcastle Jets last Saturday night.
“The table doesn’t lie,” Popovic said.
“We’ve now won five in a row and are second on merit. 20 games in we are second and we deserve to be there.”
He said the win was crucial and that the next few games would sort out the finishing order on the A-League table.
“There are some big games coming up and things can change quite quickly,” Popovic said.
“And if it does change, we want it to change in a positive way for us. We have three games to look forward to and at the end of them we will definitely know how high we can finish.”
This week the Wanderers will be hoping to hang on to that number two spot when they play the Melbourne Victory.
Saturday night’s Round 22 clash will be their third meeting of the season, with each team holding a win apiece. On November 24, the Victory posted a gritty 2-0 win over the Wanderers at Parramatta Stadium, despite playing most of the match with 10 men.
Then on January 1, two sublime goals from marquee man Shinji Ono inspired Western Sydney to a thrilling win over the Victory.
Meanwhile, Wanderers goalkeeper Ante Covic hopes to celebrate his 100th A-League game with a win over his former club.
“Hopefully my 100th game will be a successful one and I will be happy after it,” Covic said.
