Wright time for Bailey to cement starting spot

The race for centre-back spots is hotting up on the road to Russia, with Australia defender Bailey Wright aiming to again state his case by landing a starting spot against Tajikistan on Tuesday.

during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification match between the Australian Socceroos and Bangladesh at nib Stadium on September 3, 2015 in Perth, Australia. Source: Getty Images Asia Pacific

A surprise pick ahead of the more experienced Alex Wilkinson to partner the entrenched Matthew Spiranovic in Thursday’s 5-0 cakewalk against Bangladesh in Perth, the Preston North End man was barely tested by a Bengal Tigers strike force which played more like pussycats.

But Wright, whose main opposition for the role in the coming months is likely to come from the fit-again AFC Asian Cup star Trent Sainsbury, hopes to have done enough to get another shot at impressing coach Ange Postecoglou in Dushanbe as Australia looks to pick up three more FIFA Word Cup qualification points.

“Obviously, I’ve had a taste of it now and it’s something I want to keep hold of and make sure that shirt stays mine," he said.

“The work never stops when you come into camp and you are always looking to improve. I need to keep pushing and see if I can stay involved.

“I enjoyed playing alongside Matt …he’s good player and I’ll be doing my best to make it happen again.”

Wright acknowledges that playing against opposition who gave him time and space to play out from the back, and offered little in terms of an offensive threat, may not have given Postecoglou too much to gauge him by.

But he emphasised: “It’s a different challenge when you have so much possession and that's when you have to be patient.

“Sometimes in games you can ball watch and switch off and teams can hurt you. I enjoyed it but it was certainly different.”

Never short of belief or confidence, Wright always backs him to make an impression in camp and didn’t flinch at landing his third cap against Bangladesh.

“I always had the confidence to believe I was in with a chance and just worked hard every session, as I always do," he added. "If that gets you in the starting team then great. That’s where I want to be."

Wright came into camp off the back of five games in a month for newly promoted Championship side Preston, where he has made himself an automatic choice.

“I’m in a tougher league now, playing against great opposition and some good players and hopefully that will make me a better player and increase my chances of getting into the team with Australia," he reasoned.

Teammate Nathan Burns, like Wright, is expecting a more torrid test in Tajikistan against the 158th-ranked team which has one point from its opening two Group B games, after a 3-1 home loss to Jordan and 1-1 draw in Bangladesh.

The Japan-based striker, who has scored twice in five games for his new J-League club FC Tokyo, is expecting to “prepare for the worst” against team which he feels will present a similar to test to that of Kyrgyzstan where Australia scraped a 2-1 win in June.

“You never know what the conditions or atmosphere will be like and in these sorts of games anything can happen," he said.

"The match in Kyrgyzstan was one of the hardest I’ve played in a long time and you have to prepare for every team to be like that. They really took it to us.”

The A-League’s Player of the Year said his move to Japan from Wellington Phoenix was just what his career needed, with the 27 year old explaining: “It’s a big transition. A quality team, a quality league.

“I've been impressed by everything from the stadiums to my teammates. The A-League was good for me but I needed to push that bit harder.

“It’s a great environment for me. Things went against me in Korea (in two seasons with Incheon United) were I was unlucky (with injuries). I tried it once and it didn’t work out but that can happen.

“I wanted to have another go and prove I can do it again. I don’t want to be in comfort zones. If you fail  ... it only means you are trying hard.”