Macarthur FC are bracing for a tough home game against Central Coast, despite the reigning A-League Men champions' sluggish start to the season.
The Bulls are chasing their first back-to-back wins when they host the Mariners at Campbelltown Stadium on Monday night after a 2-1 win against Wellington lifted them into the top six.
In contrast, Mark Jackson's treble-winners are languishing after a horror 4-0 loss to Adelaide United and are ninth on nine points.
Still, young Bulls defender Kealey Adamson says his team won't make the mistake of assuming a win against the visitors will be easy.
"It's hard to judge because obviously last year they were so successful, and that was after a slow start to the season," Adamson said on Friday.
"They can be a little bit of a dark horse.
"We've just got to prepare to take them on at their strongest. We're not underestimating them at all based on their start.
"They've been quite tight defensively, so they've been hard to break down and last year they were very comfortable, very composed on the ball."
Expected to hit the ground running after winning their second Australia Cup title before the season, Mile Sterjovski's men have instead yet to find their footing.
Adamson hopes a win against the Mariners can launch them into gear.
They are fifth heading into round nine on 11 points.
"There's a little bit of Australia Cup curse. Clubs have kind of struggled after winning the Aus Cup to kick into gear," Adamson said.
"If we look at it from that perspective, it's almost good that we're in the position we are because we're still within punching distance of that top spot.
"All it takes is a couple points on the board now, and I think it can be in our hands."
Beyond the three points, defender Adamson is keen to find the back of the net again after getting a taste in round six against Brisbane.
The 21-year-old scored his first career goal in a thrilling 4-4 draw with the Roar but couldn't pull off his desired celebration.
"If you go and watch that video back, you can actually see I start running to the corner flag because I wanted to show the league my back flip celebration," Adamson said.
"But as I was running kind of to the corner flag, 'Bratsy' (Luke Brattan), because it was 2-1 so we're still losing the game, he's like, just got me to pull my head in and just like, 'Where are you going?'
"I kind of just start running to the corner flag and then just U-turn come straight back.
"We're gonna save that one for later."
