Sydney FC Westfield W-League Head Coach Ante Juric is unrelenting in his Premiership ambitions, with the Sky Blues set for a massive #SydneyDerby at Cromer Park on Saturday.
With the Sky Blues sitting in equal second with the Wanderers, and with three games remaining, Saturday’s clash takes on a whole new level or importance as Juric called on his squad to step up with finals football on the horizon.
“It’s an important game because of where both teams are,” Juric said.
“From day one our girls were after the Premiership so we have to chase City. Some people say it’s a bit gone but that’s what we’re aiming for.
“To do that we need to beat the Wanderers, we need to beat Perth and then Victory in the last game. The first step is Wanderers so it’s a huge game.
“We need to be at our best, in that game [the last derby] we didn’t step up for whatever reason.
“It’s a good community ground at Cromer Park,” he continued,
“Every time we play there the crowd come out in good support. We’ve made it a bit of a home the last couple of years and it’ll be great to have that community behind us [on Saturday].”
Returning from a month of no games following a BYE and the international break, Juric said it’d been four weeks of hard work for the squad, as he heralded new signing Lindsay Agnew ahead of her potential debut on Saturday.
“Training has been as normal but if you’re not playing games you can lose that sharpness, so we had a few in house games in training to keep us at our best and that competition within the squad going,” Juric said.
“We identified some things we needed to work on so we’ve been doing that for the last month.
“Lindsay [Agnew] has come in and it’s been good preparation for her to get up to speed with the squad.
“We invited a few young girls in for training as well, looking at next year, but nothing has changed apart from a couple of games.
“Lindsay is unbelievable, she’s got the perfect personality,” he continued.
“We try to get good people here to fit in with the culture we have and she fits in perfect.
“As a footballer she’s important for us because she can play in a number of different positions whether it’s defensive or wide in attacking.
“She’s even better than I saw and thought at the time we signed her. She’ll be in and amongst the squad on Saturday.”
Sydney FC are back in action in the #SydneyDerby this Saturday 15 February at Cromer Park, Manly (kick off 5pm AEDT). Get there to back your Sky Blues by purchasing tickets here.
