Rhyan Grant believes if Sydney FC can beat Melbourne Victory with a clean sheet, the Sky Blues machine will start to hum again.
The Sky Blues have not kept a clean sheet in all of their nine matches ahead of Saturday's Big Blue match at Allianz Stadium, sitting eighth on the A-League Men table having scored just as much as they have conceded (17 goals).
It took a Douglas Costa special in their 3-3 draw against Adelaide United to prevent Ufuk Talay's men from suffering a fifth defeat.
The Reds had got off to a perfect start thanks to a double from Archie Goodwin and a Stefan Mauk goal, before Costa scored twice and pulled off an assist to undo Sydney's poor defensive efforts.
Determined to avoid another shootout, Grant is confident his side can sharpen their focus at the back when Victory come to town.
Sydney will also be boosted by the return of sharpshooter Patryk Klimala (groin).
"It's probably the worst we've played for a long time," Grant said on Friday.
"It's not good enough from our defensive unit but also, like everybody always says, it's a team game, and everybody's involved in scoring goals and everyone's involved in trying to stop them.
"It's always nice to say if you can score more than you concede, you're obviously going to win games, but to win championships and premierships, you need to have a really good defensive unit.
"That's not where we're at at the minute."
Victory also pulled off a draw with arch-rivals Melbourne City after conceding early, just days after coach Patrick Kisnorbo walked out to join J1 League team Yokohama F. Marinos.
With Victory finding their feet under interim coach Arthur Diles, Grant hopes a win without conceding can finally kick-start them into gear.
"They've got some very attack-minded players, so it's going to be another tough night, but that's what we live for and that's why we play," Grant said.
"I think it's a good game for us to get up and about and really push our season forward."
Talay added: "We need to win. We need to climb the ladder. We're not happy with where we sit currently.
"We know that we're a better side than what we're producing at the moment results-wise."
Adelaide kick off round 10 by hosting Western Sydney at Coopers Stadium before Perth play Macarthur FC in the later game on Friday.
Wellington will look to snap a three-game losing streak against Newcastle and Central Coast host Auckland FC before the Big Blue on Saturday.
On Sunday, Western United take on a winless Brisbane outfit.
