But John Van’t Schip’s well-oiled machine has begun to cough and splutter in the past two weeks, losing in Newcastle and only drawing against a 10-man Wellington team at AAMI Park last Sunday.

Given the closeness of the A-League ladder and the ever-narrowing gulf between teams (pace-setting Brisbane Roar apart), every round seems like Moving Day as clubs climb the ladder or fall down depending not just on their own results but those of others.

One thing the Heart players know, however, is that there is now no margin for error. Having won so many games and completely changed their fortunes since Van’t Schip took over just after Christmas, the red and whites remain in finals contention, but only just.

With four games remaining they simply have to take three points against Central Coast Mariners, the defending champions, when the teams clash at AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon.

In their favour is the fact the Mariners are likely to be fatigued: it was only in midweek that they travelled to China to play Beijing Goan in the Asian Champions League, and they now have to back up just a few days later.

Heart has shared the spoils twice already this season against the Mariners, having the better of things early in the campaign in Melbourne before conceding two late penalties in a 2-2 draw, then getting Van’t Schip’s second period in charge under way with a scoreless draw in Gosford early in January.

The club has been buoyed by two major announcements this week with the deal struck for Van’t Schip to stay on as coach in a three-year deal, while leading goal scorer David Williams has also signed a two-year contract.

The forward has had an in-and-out time during his three years with Heart, but is coming good this season. He is also vying for this year’s Golden Boot as top scorer in the A-League, with 11 goals so far.

Williams knows that, to be a realistic chance of making the play offs now, his team needs to take 12 points from its remaining four matches, and even then it would be a marginal proposition. Four wins would give it 37 points: Sydney, sitting in sixth spot, have 32 points and three games remaining, while Wellington (28) and Newcastle (29) both have more points than the red and whites and the same number of games left.

Still, the 26-year-old is not abandoning all hope yet.

‘’We can’t take anything less than three points if we want to make the finals," he said. "We feel the momentum is still there. Things have changed, the way we feel about results has changed and we want to get there.

‘’Its doable because we have had a good home-and-away run in the past two months, except for the last two games.

‘We have to take our chances. We probably should have won that game against 10 men, but credit to Wellington and that’s just the way games go sometimes.

‘’If we stick to our game plan and the effort we can go close.

"We should have beaten the Mariners here last time. We played good football the whole year, we didn’t get the result we wanted early. Now I would rather get the three points than play pretty football.’’

Signing up again for Heart, now owned by Manchester City, was, he said, a ‘’very easy decision’’ and, while the stability and ambition the new owners will bring was perhaps a final factor, it wasn’t the deciding one.

‘’It's a club I wanted to be a part of going forward, I didn’t want to be part of another A-League club at this stage.

"They have looked after me very well and I find it very homely here. It fits well with me. Being in Melbourne is such a good thing,’’ said the Queenslander.

‘’It had been in  the mix for a while. It [the Manchester City investment] might have pushed it over the line, but it wasn’t my focus on re-signing. I believe we can win something in the next couple of years.’’

While all number of World Cup ‘’bolters’’’ have been mentioned and speculated upon in recent months, the name of Williams, who has been capped by his country, has never been mentioned, despite the fact he is leading the race for the Golden Boot. It doesn’t rankle him.

‘’I just do my job for the team and hopefully get to the top of the ranks with them,’’ he says. ‘’I have learned a lot this season. I have been working hard and it's paid off. I have been doing the things that JVS wants since getting my opportunity back in the team.

‘’Of course, every player should have a World Cup dream. If you are playing professional football your aspiration should be to play with your national team. If it happens, it happens, if not I will push for the Asian Cup.’’