Achi news desk-
CPD Sydney asks “why not?” as they eye a fifth A-League Men’s premiership title.
A far cry from the team that started their season without a win in three games, the Sky Blues dare to dream big when they host the second-placed Central Coast side at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.
A win is vital to keep those hopes alive and Ufuk Talay’s charges have had plenty of time to lick their wounds after losing 2-1 to league leaders Wellington before the international break.
Sydney were unbeaten in their previous eight games before former star Kosta Barbarouses broke the 1-1 deadlock at Auckland’s Eden Park with a stroke of genius in the 69th minute.
The result kept the Sky Blues in fifth place on the ladder.
Still, Lolley is not ruling out a regular season finish in the top two with just nine points separating them from the Mariners.
“I don’t see why not,” Lolley said Thursday.
“We know if we want to do that (get into the top two), we’ll have to win almost every game until the end of the season.
“We feel we can do that. We know we have the quality here. We feel we are as much a top team as anyone else in this division .
“We have to focus on ourselves… We have no control over what other teams do and their results so we focus on ourselves and see where that goes us.”
Central Coast are fresh from a 3-0 thrashing of third Macarthur FC, but history is against them when they make the trip south.
The Mariners are winless in their last four away games against Sydney and lost at home earlier in February, ending their 12-game unbeaten run with a 3-1 defeat.
Sydney midfielder Anthony Caceres stood tall in their wet weather skirmish, managing to find the back of the net himself in Gosford.
“It’s quite an open league to be honest. There’s quality all around us,” said Lolley, the former Nottingham Forest star.
“It reminds me a little bit of England, to be honest, especially being in the Championship – you can be somewhere and then suddenly within a week, your whole season transforms.
“If we have a great week, the table will start to look very interesting and a lot more positive in terms of where we want to be.
“Hopefully, in about 10 days we will all have a smile on our faces.”
Gunnery striker Robert Mak returns from international duty after being called up to Slovakia’s squad for friendlies against Austria and Norway.
Olyroos representatives Jordan Courtney Perkins, Corey Hollman and Jake Girdwood-Reich will also be in contention for selection, with Girdwood-Reich returning from a one-match red card suspension during the round 20 clash against Brisbane.
Patrick Wood (ankle), Joe Lacey (ankle) and Aaron Gurd (leg) are still out with injury, while the Mariners will be without Sasha Kuzevski (knee), Harrison Steele (foot) and Noah Smith (unknown).
