Roberto Martinez has said that his side still have a chance for the play offs as he prepares for the biggest derby

Swansea City will be in action at Ninian Park on Sunday knowing that they pretty much have to secure victory to keep alive their play off chances.

And Roberto knows that there is no room for error as he prepares for the game which he believes is not rivalled by many - if any - derbies across Britain.

It has been ten years since the two sides last met at Ninian and - barring a run into the play offs - it will be the last time the two sides meet there with Cardiff's new ground - the Cardiff City stadium - ready for operation from next season.

Speaking to the Western Mail, Roberto said “If it was the last game of the season and we had nothing to play for then probably you could view it as being about spoiling Cardiff’s chances, about going into the game just to upset your rivals, but that’s not the case at all. We can still get there with 72 or 73 points – to do that will mean very little margin for error but this is still a fantastic chance for us.

“It is a bigger chance than we had seven months ago at the start of the season where you would say clubs like Ipswich, QPR, Norwich, Southampton and Cardiff themselves all had better chances than us.

“As far as I am concerned, we are in a great position with six vital games ahead of us – all the ingredients to be very excited.

“I don’t want to get into the play-offs just to say we finished in the top six,” he said. “If we get into the play-offs it’s because I want to win them and to do that you need to enter them on a strong run with your standards really high and to do that we are in a perfect position.

“It is no good for us to get into the play-offs unless we get there on a good run. It’s the same for any team getting into the play-offs – they need to get there being as strong as they can be otherwise the play-offs are a lottery; it’s taken out of your hands and more often than not it ends in disappointment.

“That’s why I’m not really looking at the points, the performance is vital. How we handle the occasion and how much we want to finish this season strongly, they are the things I want to see.

“We have like a mini-season now and we need to see consistency in what we’re good at.

“Of course, a positive result at Ninian can give you a boost in that – but not in the long term over these six games. The important thing is we need to get back to our standards with a good performance being the most important thing – if we can do that and get a positive result then you couldn’t ask for more.

“You can compare the South Wales derby with many others, but we are not beaten in many aspects and that’s something to be proud of.

“The last two meetings have had everything. They have been very tense, a great tempo, sendings-off, great phases of play, good goals and the intensity big derbies should have.

“Now, with six games to go, you add the importance of the derby and the importance of every game at this stage of the season and you see it is a massive game for the right reason.”

Roberto's comments were taken from the Wales Online website - you can view the full article here http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footballnation/swansea-city-fc/2009/04/04/this-is-the-biggest-derby-says-swansea-city-boss-roberto-martinez-91466-23308743/

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