Central Coast midfielder Oliver Bozanic insists the faltering A-League leaders aren’t feeling any extra pressure despite their recent form slump.
Heading into Saturday’s vital home clash with intra-state rival Sydney, the Mariners have lost three and won just one of their past five games.
Sydney entered the round in seventh, with midfield playmaker Nicky Carle describing the past four rounds as grand finals for his team.
Defending champions Brisbane have closed to within three points of Central Coast after emerging from their own mid-season slump.
Midfielder Bozanic was adamant Brisbane’s late-season charge wouldn’t ratchet up the pressure on his team.
“It’s all about just winning the next game and trying to play good football and getting back to the basics, there’s no extra pressure,” Bozanic told AAP.
“It’s not so much turning things around for us, we’re just going into each game putting aside everything.
“Instead of looking into the future, it’s about looking at each game as it comes, more or less going back to our basics and looking towards just this weekend and getting three points.”
“Sydney are always a strong team and can always win, so it’s going to be a good hard clash.
“They are quite similar to us in some ways and it’s going to be a very tough game.
“It’s going to be very tough in midfield as well.”
Carle said the Bluetongue Stadium clash was extremely important to his team’s finals prospects.
“It shows how close the league is that if we don’t win this weekend and a few other results don’t go our way, we’ll find it tough to make it (the finals),” Carle said.
“It’s a massive game for us, the last four games are pretty much like grand finals to us.
“If we really want to be there we need to go there and get a result and they are a great side, so it’s going to be a difficult ask.”
The Mariners won both of their games against Sydney earlier in the season, though the harbour city club have had as many victories on the road as at home.
Sydney coach Vitezslav Lavicka was staying tight-lipped about potential changes to his team, with Karol Kisel, Sebastian Ryall and Dimi Petratos available again and youngster Terry Antonis pushing hard for promotion.
He said he would decide on his starting side just before heading to Gosford.
