‘Why not us?’ – Victory up for almighty Auckland task

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‘Why not us?’ – Victory up for almighty Auckland task

“Why not us?”

That’s the attitude Melbourne Victory will take into the huge task of overturning a 1-0 deficit away to Auckland FC to reach the A-League Men grand final.

Logan Rogerson’s goal in the 64th minute on Saturday night gave the premiers a lead heading into next Saturday’s second leg at Go Media Stadium in New Zealand.

Steve Corica’s newcomers want a fairytale championship-premiership double, but Victory are ready to play villain.

“Yeah, well, someone’s got to end it, isn’t it?” midfielder Ryan Teague said.

“Wanderers were unbeaten (in 12). We put that to an end.

“So hopefully now we can go into next weekend. Obviously, Auckland have had a good season, they’re a good team, but someone’s going to end it – so why not us?”

Auckland have the best home record in the league, winning eight of 13 games and losing just one, in front of crowds averaging 18,000 and peaking at 27,000.

They will be buoyed by adding an additional 2700 seats to Go Media Stadium for the home leg.

“It’s what you play for, isn’t it?” Teague said of the parochial crowd.

“There’s nothing better than playing in front of 20,000-plus people.

“It’s finals football – you want to play, and you want the pressure.

“I love playing in games like this. And now we have to come back from 1-0 down, but we’ve got the belief inside the club that we can.”

Auckland’s Neyder Moreno had a shot to make it 2-0 ricochet off both posts to safety at the death.

“It’s great because it keeps the tie in the balance here,” Victory coach Arthur Diles said.

“And there’s a lot to play for. It’s only 1-0 and it’s only half-time, so we go there next week for the second half.”

Diles wants his charges to be cleaner and more decisive in the front third, but at the back there are personnel issues.

Brendan Hamill suffered a potentially serious right knee injury while Roderick Miranda withdrew from Saturday’s match with a hip issue.

“Look, it’s unfortunate, but it’s football, isn’t it?” Teague said.

“Two centre-backs out, but we’ve got a lot of good players in the squad that can fill in for these positions.

“Obviously, it hurts, missing the two of them at the moment. But that’s why we have a squad full of players.”

Mitch Langerak (foot) remains in doubt for the away leg when Corica expects Victory to embrace the hostile environment.

“I think they’ll thrive there as well,” he said.

Auckland defended brilliantly on Saturday and Corica is demanding “more of the same”.

“We want to make sure that we we give our fans what they deserve,” he said.

“And that’s to be in a final and a home final as well.”

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