Andrew Durante believes Wellington Phoenix must be at their best right from kick-off to come home with a positive result on Sunday evening against Adelaide United.
Phoenix will be looking to bounce back after the defeat to Melbourne City last weekend, when they play winless Adelaide at Coopers Stadium.
Captain Durante feels that his team have shown they are more than capable of overcoming the A-League champions, but the skipper is taking nothing for granted.
“They haven’t got their win yet and are a dangerous side. They have some very good players in the team,” Durante said.
“The boys are really confident, and this is going to be a big test for us Sunday.”
While Phoenix haven’t always had a good return from their trips to Adelaide, Durante believes the key to victory is to start strongly.
“If we can get that goal and put them under pressure then we have a good chance of winning the game,” the Nix Captain said.
“It’s going to be difficult, and we need to stick to the game plan while putting the ball in the back of the net.”
Head Coach Ernie Merrick believes that his side can’t underestimate Adelaide, but is focused on seeing Phoenix turn some good performances into a string of results.
“I wouldn’t write off any teams in the League [Hyundai A-League],” Merrick said.
“In the next four games we want to get results in three of them.”
Sunday, 4 December 2016
Adelaide United v Wellington Phoenix
Coopers Stadium, Adelaide
Kick-Off: 6:30PM (Local) (9:00PM NZ)
Referee: Stephen Lucas
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on Sky Sport 2 from 9:00pm
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #ADLvWEL
Wellington Phoenix squad: 1.Glen MOSS (gk), 2.Jacob TRATT, 4.Roly BONEVACIA, 5.Ryan LOWRY, 7.Gui FINKLER, 8.Alex RODRIGUEZ, 9.Kosta BARBAROUSES, 11.Hamish WATSON, 12.Adam PARKHOUSE, 13.Marco ROSSI, 14.Alex RUFER, 16.Louis FENTON, 17.Vince LIA, 18.Ben LITFIN, 20.Lewis ITALIANO (gk), 21.Roy KRISHNA, 22.Andrew DURANTE (c), 23.Matthew RIDENTON
Hat-Trick Pack
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