There's some very good teams who are probably going to miss out on the play-offs this year.
- - Carl Robinson
CARL Robinson suspects the Jets may fall "one or two games short", but if the reborn outfit manage to sneak into the six, the Welshman has no doubts they can make an impact.
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The Jets kept their play-off hopes alive with a hard fought 1-0 triumph over fellow finals hopefuls Western United at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday night.
The win was the Jets' third in four games and moved them to 31 points.
Perth and Adelaide are in fifth and sixth place on 34 points and have three and two games to play.
The Jets can climb to 34 points with a win over Wellington in their final game on August 13.
Western United and Western Sydney are on 30 points and also in the equation.
The Jets have 10 days until their clash with the Phoenix and are likely to know their finals fate by kick-off.
Adelaide (34) meet Sydney FC (Thursday) and Melbourne City (next Tuesday).
Perth (34) also complete their campaign with games against Western Sydney (Tuesday), Victory (Saturday) and Western United (next Wednesday).
Wanderers (30) tackle Glory (Tuesday), Western United (Friday) and Victory (next Wednesday).
Western United (30) play Wanderers (Friday) and Perth (next Wednesday) before the Jets' final fixture. They then battle Sydney (August 15) and Melbourne City (August 19).
"I think we will come one or two games short, which is unfortunate," Robinson said. "Based on form I think we could [make an impact]. We will believe.
"But again, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. There's some very good teams who are probably going to miss out on the play-offs this year.
"It's down to whoever takes care of business. I will reiterate, I'm not going to worry about it because it's out of my hands. Other managers will probably worry more than me, but I'm proud of this group. I really am. I am proud of the players, because of their commitment and the effort that they put in every game.
"If you see them in training, you'll understand how lucky I am to have a group like this to work with. They don't complain, they don't moan, they get on with it."
In 10 games since Robinson's appointment, the Jets have suffered one loss, a 1-0 defeat to Brisbane, and have notched six wins and three draws.
Along the way, they have adopted a possession-based game and tightened the screws in defence. Before Robinson's arrival, the Jets were conceding 2.16 goals per game. In the last 10 games, they have leaked just six at 0.6 per outing.
"The boys deserved all the credit," he said. "They have put the work in. Football coaching is about challenging and testing people.
"People talk about managers. Managers do their work Monday to Friday. We're there to support them, but they play, so they deserve a lot of credit because they've responded perfectly since the day I walked into the job 10 games ago. They've been nothing short of fantastic.
"That's our starting point for next year because whatever happens in the next 10 days - play-offs or not - there's a certain requirement that I want. If you want to be part of this club moving forward, then that's the expectation, and the bar will certainly be higher and higher as we go along."
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