KEY POINTS:
The Wellington Phoenix are upbeat despite two weeks of disappointing results with a home game tonight which could see them break into the A-League's top four.
They will take on fourth-placed Central Coast Mariners.
The team's last two clashes have resulted in a draw in Wellington and a 1-0 win to the Phoenix on the Mariners' home turf.
Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert said a loss wouldn't rule them out of finals contention, but could make life difficult.
"We'd go right into probably fourth equal if we won this one. [If we lost] we wouldn't be out of it until probably three rounds to go, but this would certainly help. "It's almost [like] cup football now. It's that cut-throat period of the season.
"But we don't want to put any extra pressure on the team, if we're good enough to win, we will."
Herbert acknowledged the team had a reputation as slow starters and there had been discussion about how to recreate the level of play shown against Perth last week when they were forced to rally late in the game to salvage a draw.
"I'm not sure we could keep that kind of intensity that we showed at the back end [against Perth] for the whole 90 minutes, but we can start a little bit brighter.
"I think last week [they were] a little hungover from [a 6-1 loss against] Adelaide the week before, but that shackle's gone now so we should go into this one with a lot of confidence."
Tonight's squad won't include Ben Sigmund who injured his hip during last week's match, heralding the return of Karl Dodd.
Also returning will be former Mariners forward Adam Kwasnik after a six-week layoff.
Phoenix chief executive Tony Pignata said Brazilian guest player Fred had been ruled out of the rest of the season having returned home following the death of his father in a car accident last week.
- NZPA
