Adelaide United goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic says despite the Reds’ disappointing A-League campaign, finals are not out of the question for the club.

Adelaide notched their first win in seven matches last Saturday against Brisbane, but remain stuck on the bottom of the ladder after winning just five of their 18 games this season.

But a win over Wellington at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night would put the Reds above both the Phoenix and North Queensland on the table and level on points with sixth-placed Perth.

And Galekovic told AAP if Adelaide can string together back-to-back wins for the first time this season on Friday, there’s no reason why they can’t start to dream of an unlikely title challenge.

“We’ve always given ourselves a chance, in this league you get two or three wins on the board and you’re right back up there, just look at Newcastle,” the `keeper said on Thursday.

“That’s our aim this week, we haven’t had two wins in a row, and if we do that then we’ll be close to the six.

“If we do make the six we’ll probably be the most in-form team because we need to get those wins to get there.

“We’re just looking at this game but if we get the three points here then we’ll look towards Sydney.”

The Reds’ goalscoring hero from the 1-0 win against the Roar, Fabian Barbiero, is likely to play against the Phoenix despite suffering groin soreness after the match in Brisbane.

But midfielder Paul Reid has been ruled out with an abductor strain and defender Kristian Sarkies is also out with a quadriceps injury.

Both are big losses for the Reds, who have never lost an A-League fixture to the Phoenix in seven meetings between the clubs.

“You can look into the past but this team’s pretty good, Paul Ifill’s in form and they’ve got a few other good signings there,” Galekovic said to ward off any complacency in the Adelaide ranks.

“They’re going to still be hard and we’re not going to take them lightly.”

A large part in Adelaide’s new found optimism was a team clear-out by coach Aurelio Vidmar before the Brisbane match.

Vidmar dumped senior players such as former Ghana international Lloyd Owusu and ex-Sydney FC defender Mark Rudan, in place of young guns like teenager Matthew Leckie and 20-year-old Daniel Mullen.

And Galekovic praised the way the youngsters had revitalised the squad.

“The boys that came in did a great job, the attitude of every single player last week was sensational,” he said.

“The boys have got to fight for every single spot now and hopefully it makes the squad a better squad.”

© AAP 2012

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