Perth Glory love doing things the hard way and are relishing the challenge of gatecrashing the A-League Women top four, according to coach Alex Epakis.
Glory became just the second team to defeat Western United this season when they posted a shock 3-1 upset over the ladder leaders on enemy territory last Saturday.
Despite the impressive victory, eighth-placed Glory remain nine points adrift of fourth-placed Melbourne Victory.
Glory have two games in hand on the Victory, meaning that large gap can be significantly whittled down if Epakis's charges keep producing positive results.
Perth will be aiming to make it three wins on the trot when they take on the lowly Newcastle Jets at Macedonia Park on Sunday, and Epakis is keen for his team to treat every game from here like a final.
"It's an exciting opportunity. It's one that I know the team and I are going to relish," Epakis said.
"Our backs are against the wall. Based on where we are currently, we're not expected to make the four.
"But our thinking internally is that if we (produce) the performance that we just had (against Western) every week and we treat every week like a final, we give ourselves a real chance.
"We love doing it the hard way. I'm certainly not writing it off. I know the players really want to push for that (finals spot), and let's see where we go."
On paper, Glory should have few problems against the 10th-placed Newcastle Jets.
But the Jets' recent coaching switch has turned Sunday's game into an unpredictable encounter.
Ash Wilson quit as Newcastle coach last week following their poor start to the season, with former Jets men's coach Gary van Egmond parachuted into the role.
Van Egmond's stint started with a 3-0 loss to Canberra United, but the Jets rebounded on Wednesday by becoming just the third team to beat Western United this season, posting a 2-0 victory.
Glory twice led the Jets when the teams last faced each other on December 3.
Second-half goals to Lauren Allan and Ashlee Brodigan secured the Jets a 2-2 draw in that fixture.
"We have to be more clinical," Epakis said when reflecting on that match.
"We went up twice and we needed to manage that game better.
"There's been other fixtures where we've gone up as well and we haven't been able to see it out to get more from those games.
"I think we've learned the hard way of how to manage seeing out the game and manage momentum swings."
