Western Sydney coach Tony Popovic says the Wanderers' self-belief is reaching new heights as their record winning streak grows and they close in on the A-League minor premiership.
The league newcomers stretched their winning run to 10 with a typically hard-working 3-1 victory over Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park on Saturday.
Labinot Haliti scored twice and Iacopo Rocca notched a late sealer.
It puts the Wanderers eight points clear of second-placed Central Coast.
If the Mariners don't beat Brisbane Roar on Sunday, the Wanderers will have wrapped up the premiers' plate with two rounds to spare.
If the Mariners do win, Western Sydney can secure the trophy by beating Sydney FC in next Saturday night's derby in Parramatta, where they expect Japanese star Shinji Ono to return from injury.
The Wanderers and Heart were tied 1-1 at halftime, after the Heart's Golgol Mebrahtu levelled the scores with a wonder strike late in the first half.
But the Wanderers dominated the second half and Popovic said it underlined his players' confidence they could win from any position.
"We've had a lot of milestones this year for this club. Each one has made them stronger, believe more," he said.
"There are always periods in games where, when you dominate, you need to take advantage and, when the opposition's on top, you need to get through that period.
"The players are believing more and more with each result."
Popovic said the club wasn't dwelling on how close they were to their first trophy but, if they did claim the premiers' plate, it would mean a lot.
"We in this country love a grand final. We love a finals series," he said.
"But, if after 27 rounds, you're on top then you're a worthy champion."
The Heart remain second last and are almost out of the finals race, but coach John Aloisi said while there was any hope, they would fight.
"We can't give up because that's not in my nature," Aloisi said.
Sydney FC salvaged a vital point to keep their A-League finals prospects alive in a 1-1 draw with Melbourne Victory on Saturday at Allianz Stadium.
An 85th-minute equaliser from Sky Blues substitute Yairo Yau cancelled out a Mark Milligan strike in the third minute.
Yau headed into an open goal at the far post after Rhyan Grant had skilfully headed the ball on from the near post from an Alessandro Del Piero corner.
The goal from the Panama international brought the 22,233 crowd to its feet after the Sky Blues had missed a number of chances to level the scores in the second half.
Uncharacteristically, Del Piero was the chief offender when he pushed a penalty kick into the path of a diving Nathan Coe on the hour after a Victory defender handballed in the box.
In a high tempo free-flowing game, Marco Rojas was wasteful at the other end for the visitors but a draw was probably a fair result.
The point moved Sydney to equal fifth with Newcastle but the Sky Blues can still fall out of the top six if Perth and Central Coast each win on Sunday.
Sydney goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic was benched for arriving to the ground late after getting stuck in the pre-game traffic and he hardly had time to take his seat before the Victory scored through Milligan in the third minute.
A lovely cross from Connor Pain found two Victory forwards free and, at the far post, Milligan duly threaded the ball past Ivan Necevski for the early lead.
Sydney had their chances to hit back but couldn't convert. In the 17th minute, Terry Antonis meekly headed to Nathan Coe before a poor first touch from Joel Griffiths denied him a golden chance when Del Piero put him one-on-one with the Victory keeper.
Del Piero surprisingly then put two free kicks wide of the net.
Coe was yellow-carded when he collected the ball from outside the area in the 15th minute but Del Piero pushed the attempt wide.
The Italian World Cup winner then pushed another effort over the bar from a little further back in the 22nd minute.
But Yau's late equaliser ensured the Sky Blues are still well and truly in the finals hunt.
Given the opportunities his side had, Sydney FC coach Frank Farina was unhappy with the result.
"We are a little bit disappointed to be honest," he said.
"We gave away an early goal which put us behind the eightball but after that we were still well and truly in the game and for a large part we were dominant."
Victory coach Ange Postecoglou bemoaned his side's inability to put the game beyond doubt.
"We needed the second goal to get clear and that was probably the only thing lacking in our game," he said.
"We kept them sort of in the game."