No surprise that John Adshead has stuck with the players who turned in the best effort of their season in naming the New Zealand Knights squad for today's early-morning flight to Brisbane.
And it is just as likely Adshead will put out the same starting XI in Thursday night's game
against Queensland Roar.
"They all stood up and were counted," said Adshead. "I don't pick teams, the players do. The players will tell you who the best to play at any one time are. They go out there determined to send a pick-me message to the bench. I can't see any reason to change this week."
Adshead agreed that the two one-goal losses the Knights have suffered in their last two outings were worlds apart.
"There is no comparison between the 1-0 loss in Adelaide and the 3-2 result against Melbourne Victory.
"Ernie [Victory coach Ernie Merrick] came up to me after the game and he felt sorry for me and agreed we deserved at least a point. That's nice but it doesn't hide anything.
"For the first time in a long time we did enough to take something out of it, but again we have nothing to show for it," said Adshead. "Let's hope we can go to Suncorp and get some points."
The match marks the start of the third, and last, seven-match phase of the season.
The four matches in this week's round are the last before the Christmas break, when Sydney FC will be in Japan as the Oceania representative at Fifa's World Club Championship.
Knights: Danny Milosevic, Darren Bazeley, John Tambouras, Ben Collett, Sean Devine, Simon Yeo, Zenon Caravella, Cole Tinkler, Jeremy Brockie, Noah Hickey, Frank van Eijs, Naoki Imaya, Jeremy Christie, Kris Bright, Glen Moss.
