Sydney FC’s Steve Corica not stressing a course for third plate

Steve Corica is all too aware that his team faces a heavy scheduled in the coming weeks.

Sydney FC star Milos Ninkovic has been troubled by a virus heading into tonight’s match.

Sydney FC have had a habit of breaking records in recent seasons but coach Steve Corica says he is putting talk of the prospect of yet another this season to the back of his mind as the club looks to stay in contention for a third straight Premier’s Plate.

With the season now at the halfway mark, the third-placed Sky Blues go into today’s game against the Newcastle Jets at Jubilee Oval knowing they need to win to maintain pressure on competition leaders Perth Glory.

Already six points behind, a loss would be devastating for a club that created a record by becoming the first to win consecutive Premier’s Plates. Under previous coach Graham Arnold, they were minor premiers in 2016-17, winning by a record 17-point margin, and last season with 14 points to spare over their nearest rivals, the Jets.

However, Corica is dismissing talk of winning the plate again.

“There’s a long way to go … we have only just reached the halfway stage,” Corica said. “We still have to play Perth once more and (second-placed) Melbourne Victory twice. It is still in our hands, I guess, but there are a lot of games to go.

“For me, the focus is simply on tomorrow’s game against New­castle. We are at home against a very good opponent.”

Certainly, Corica has more to concern him than the Premier’s Plate as the Sky Blues embark on a heavy schedule that involves both the A-League and Asian Champions League over the next five weeks or so.

“We have to prepare to play three games in the next seven days (against the Jets, Wellington Phoenix and Melbourne Victory) and six games in a month, and that is before taking the ACL into ­account,” Corica said.

“Of course, it is always nice to pick up trophies or to be in contention. We made the FFA Cup final again this season and it was disappointing we couldn’t back up our success from last season. But the most important thing is we need to stay focused and make sure we pick up points during this period.”

Sydney will go into this afternoon’s game with some concerns. Midfielder Josh Brillante is sidelined because of suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in the 2-1 win over ­Adelaide last Sunday.

Paulo Retre (groin) and Milos Ninkovic (virus) missed training on Thursday but Ninkovic had a light run yesterday and is likely to start from the bench.

Given the heavy schedule, ­Corica said he needs to look at ­rotating the squad, especially as several players are well into their 30s. Captain Alex Brosque came off the bench against Adelaide but is in the starting line-up today.

“The schedule doesn’t leave me with much room to manoeuvre so we need to try and freshen up the players, especially the older guys,” he said. “We have fresh players to come in so that helps.”

While the Sky Blues are in a solid position on the table, the Jets will come into this game knowing they are running out of chances to make a charge for the playoffs.

As much as they have had some decent performances and created plenty of chances, last season’s beaten grand finalists have struggled in front of goal. It has been a frustrating time for coach Ernie Merrick and his squad but, as Corica suggests, they have the quality in the front to be a real threat.