The A-League's 'buzz' club Wellington Phoenix are high on confidence heading into Saturday's Preliminary Final against Sydney FC.

The New Zealanders have done things the hard way so far to reach the penultimate match of the 2009/10 A-League season but skipper Andrew Durante says the players are chomping at the bit for the weekend.

"We've done it the hard way [surviving extra-time games against Perth and Newcastle] but we're full of confidence and we know that we are a far better team than when we played Sydney before," said Durante.

"This time it won't be one-sided. We're on one big ride. The motivation is that we let ourselves down three times against Sydney in the league.

"We've changed our formation since. It's a different set-up.

"Since Manny [Muscat] started playing as a holding midfielder we've won eight of our past 10 games.

"And the other massive positive is Liam Reddy in goals - he's been fantastic."

Durante also mentioned star striker Paul Ifill who has been one of the best players in the competition this term saying, he, along with other attacking players would be the key to the Phoenix making the Grand Final.

"Hopefully he can carry on what he's been doing. He gets the goals but a lot of the credit should go to Chris Greenacre for the way he slogs it out up front," he added.

"If Tim Brown, Vince Lia and Manny do their job in midfield and get the ball wide then guys like Leo Bertos and Ifill can do their thing."