Plenty to come from Wanderers: Rudan

Western Sydney sit four points outside the A-League Men top six and coach Mark Rudan is feeling confident as they make a late charge for finals.

Western Sydney coach Mark Rudan is adamant there's plenty left in the Wanderers' tank as they eye a once-unlikely push for A-League Men finals.

Rudan's Wanderers expectations

Rudan aims for a Wanderers A-League finals appearance.
Western Sydney are currently four points from the top six.
The club last made the finals in the 2016-17 season.

More A-League news can be found on FTBL.

The Wanderers snatched a last-ditch 1-1 draw with Melbourne Victory on Sunday to extend their unbeaten run to three and draw within four points of the top six.

They also welcomed back Jack Rodwell and James Troisi via the bench ahead of a key run of games.

"I certainly do (feel the best is yet to come). I really believe in these players, I really do," Rudan said.

"With those players back, we've got a run of games now where we haven't tasted defeat, which is always important.

"We're learning how to do that but the start has been inconsistent.

"You try to work yourself out of that inconsistency ... It takes a bit of time and they feel like they can go into any game now and get a result, or not lose.

"It's not how I coach, I don't coach not to lose, I coach to try and win but it's important that they start seeing that and believing in themselves."

That run will start with Saturday's Sydney derby, which comes just under a month after the Wanderers beat Sydney FC 2-0.

"It's a big game for us. There's no doubt," Rudan said.

"But that's next week and there's still a lot of work, a lot of days to prepare for that game.

"In the scheme of things too we know that (Sydney have) been a little bit up and down but they're always dangerous and we're going to give them a lot of respect as well."

Dimi Petratos (illness) and Tomer Hemed didn't travel to Melbourne but Rudan was confident the pair would be fit for the derby.

Victory counterpart Tony Popovic, meanwhile, stressed his charges needed to work on their finishing after a fourth consecutive draw.

"It's been a bit of a story for the last four games where we've improved our play. That's clear," he said.

"We've improved our attacking play which is great so we're happy with that. We're creating numerous opportunities.

"Unfortunately, we're not putting teams away."