Struggling Sydney FC eye top six

Sydney FC will be out to join the bottleneck of sides jostling at the bottom of the
A-League top six when the struggling champions host fellow finals hopefuls
Wellington on Wednesday night.
Amazingly for a side which has managed just three wins from 16 matches, second-last
Sydney can move to within one point of the sixth-placed Melbourne Victory with all
three points at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Wellington are just as desperate for the maximum return, with the Phoenix currently
seventh - level with the Victory on 19 competition points - making Wednesday night's
encounter vital for both sides.
"We're just four points out of the six," Sydney FC captain Terry McFlynn said.
"Our performance is much better so a win on Wednesday night leaves us a point within
the six with everything to play for."
Newly re-signed goalkeeper Ivan Necevski, who has kept four clean sheets in his six
games since displacing Liam Reddy between the sticks, highlighted the desperation
within the squad.
"We've got to kick, we've got to scratch, we've got to make sure that those three
points are ours at the end of the 90 minutes, because they're going to come here
fired up," he said.
"They had a good draw against the Victory the other night and are coming off a point
as well so they're going to be hungry."
Sydney FC were beaten 2-1 by the Phoenix when they met in Wellington earlier this
season, but with only one loss in the past six matches, the Sky Blues look to be
turning their game around after a dismal start to the season.
The return of midfielder Scott Jamieson and defender Stephan Keller from injury
provides a boost, but their attack will again rely heavily on Alex Brosque with
strikers Nicky Carle and Bruno Cazarine still out with back injuries.
Phoenix captain Andrew Durante said his side will be focusing on consistency after
recent strong performances saw them defeat Melbourne Heart 2-0 and draw 2-2 with the
Victory.
"They (Sydney) are also going to be desperate for the three points, but we seem to
be getting out of that little rut in form we've been in over the past month," he
told NZPA.
"There are a few teams locked in pretty tight in the middle of the table and we know
that a decent run of results can get us right back in the mix."
The Phoenix will be missing regular starter Leo Bertos (groin) and don't travel
well, but their strong attack should put pressure on the Sky Blues.
Necevski said the Phoenix striker Paul Ifill was one to watch out for.
"It's a good challenge, not just for me, but for our whole team, our defensive
shape," he said.
"He's an out and out goal scorer and he's very dangerous around the box so we have
to be on our toes the whole game."