A-League: Time for action not words in Jets push for finals

But Millar - and his Jets teammates - are well aware that talking about finishing in the top six won't make it happen.

The Jets (11 points) enter the clash against an in-form Adelaide at McDonald Jones Stadium Sunday having lost three games straight.

However, in the roller coaster ride that is the A-League, they are only eight points from the equal second-placed Reds and two wins shy of the top six.

"For me, we have a really good chance to play finals," said Millar, who has played four games since returning from a loan stint at English League One club Shrewsbury Town. "It is always my goal to go over [to England], but I haven't played finals in the past three years. That is at the top of my list. We have such a good team and such a good bunch of boys.

"We are still in touch. We just have to make sure we capitalise on moments and get that five or ten per cent better.

"We have spoken about it in the change room. You can't keep saying, next week we will get the points. We need to start putting points on the board. We have to stop saying next week because the next few weeks will create a gap in the table."

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Coach Craig Deans agreed it was "time to start winning games".

"The ladder is very tight," Deans said. "Eight points from second to ourselves. It is not a huge amount of points but every game that goes by without picking up three points, you make it more difficult.

"In the games we haven't won, we have been close. It's a matter of turning 2-1 losses into 1-all draws or 1-all draws into 1-0 wins or whatever it might be. We have to put ourselves under a bit more pressure to get results.

"The goals we have conceded this year, on average they involve two passes from the opposition. That tells us, a lot of it is our own doing, our own mistakes, our own turnovers in poor areas of the field. We need to fix that very quickly. That is not a skill set thing, it is a mindset and awareness of where you are on the pitch."

Millar, who is off contract and hopes to secure a move to England, has been solid without reaching peak form.

"I had about two months [out of three] where I was in a hotel room doing quarantine," Millar said.

"The past two weeks have been good, and I'm starting to play 90 minutes and be able to run out games. It's good to be back and starting to feel like I did before I left."

If anything, Millar has been trying too hard to have an impact down the right flank.

"You try to make things happen, and sometimes you force it," he said. "Maybe I a have been overthinking things a little bit too - when to cross, when not to cross.

"I've had a good time to settle and now is a chance to just play my game."

Deans said Millar just needs to "back himself".

"We all know when Matty is on his game, he is one of the best fullbacks in the competition," he said.

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