Valkanis’ short time as a caretaker manager has seen him enjoy a 1-0 win over Western Sydney Wanderers and a harsh 2-1 defeat to his former team Adelaide United last week.

It was clear he felt his side was robbed of a draw or even a win against the Reds, making his grievances known regarding Nico Colazo’s disallowed goal for offside in the first half which would have seen City hit the lead 2-1.

The club was issued an apology by the referees association, but Valkanis said “it did not help”.

“We’re happy with the way things went in Adelaide as well, I’ll mention it as well. I find it a little bit amusing, no one ever spoke about it,” Valkanis said.

“Colazo’s goal… was 100 per cent a goal and we would have gone into half-time 2-1 up. No one wants to talk about a beautiful penetrating pass by Luke Brattan and great run by Colazo.

“That would’ve been a different game against a team that had their backs against the wall, who had a do-or-die game, would have had to open up instead of sit back and play counter-attacking football.

“That’s the way it is, Colazo is doing extremely well as well, if you have a look at our possession and ball completion.”

Valkanis was dreaming big as City are still a chance of theoretically making the top two finding themselves third with 23 points.

Melbourne Victory, who had a game in hand, lost the crucial clash away to Wellington Phoenix 3-0 on Tuesday night to close the gap on the table.

Victory sit in second on 32 points behind high-flying undefeated Sydney FC on 37.

“If I’m looking at it, mathematically it’s still possible so as long it’s possible mathematically why can’t it be? At the end of the day, there’s a long way to go still,” he said.

“Two things you look at – Melbourne Victory got a point yesterday. Then they’ve got a game in Perth which isn’t easy.

“We believe in it as well, we went to Adelaide to play our game and win, in the end one counter-attack and a sucker punch got us. We’re going to play our way and look to keep improving our way which is our style.

Valkanis was not expecting an easy three points against the Central Coast Mariners on Thursday night.

He added: “We’re disrespecting the opposition, everyone’s got the same salary cap. I’ll use Adelaide example, they were last on the ladder, a good team and unlucky not to get more points.”

Mariners coach Paul Okon said City’s loss to the Reds had no relevance to their upcoming encounter.

United’s win saw Okon’s side slip to 10th on the table after a 1-0 defeat to the Phoenix last week.

“It’s foolish to look at their game against Adelaide and make too much of it just because they lost,” Okon said.

“They’re the club with the most resources. Form isn’t going to come into play in our thoughts, we’re up against a team that can still win the A-League.”