Western Sydney Wanderers coach Mark Rudan has called on his players to rise to the occasion when they take on reigning premiers Melbourne City on Friday night.
The Wanderers are priced at 2/1 to finish in the top six of the A-League this season and a victory over City at Commbank Stadium would give the whole club a huge lift.
Huge test
Rudan has only been in charge for two games since replacing Carl Robinson as boss and has overseen a 1-0 win over Perth Glory and a 1-0 defeat against his former club Western United.
Now Wanderers face an even bigger test against a Melbourne City side that sit second on the ladder and boast a fearsome attacking line up.
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But that does not scare Rudan who is calling on his players to rise to the challenge and get a result.
"One thing that I will make sure of while I'm here is that the bigger the challenge, the bigger the responsibility and the more enjoyable that challenge becomes. Embrace it," Rudan told reporters ahead of the game.
"We need to understand that this club was built on those kind of moments throughout its history and we need to understand what those moments mean and the bigger the challenge the more important it is to embrace it.
"We're coming up against a very good side that's going to be well respected as far as we're concerned."
Six-goal thriller
Back in January the two sides fought out a 3-3 draw with the Wanderers leading 2-0 within the first 10 minutes before allowing City back into the game and midfielder Keanu Baccus say they have learnt lessons from that game.
"We're pretty familiar with their threats and their weaknesses," Baccus said. "We'll do the same, we'll look to start the same as we did that game, and then we'll do better in defence and not let them in and stop their threats.
"Hopefully win the game that way."
