Auckland FC coach Steve Corica is set to face off against his former team Sydney FC at Mount Smart Stadium on Sunday.
Corica won an A-League premiership title, two championships and the Australia Cup with the Sky Blues across five seasons in charge of the club.
Corica said he was looking forward to meeting his old team — pointing out they were a side deserving respect.
"It would be great to get two wins on the bounce, that's going to make it even bigger for myself," Corica said. "It's a strange one, I'm not too sure how I'm going to feel.
"It's going to be interesting, I feel pretty good at the moment, it's just another game we have to win.
"I was at that club for a very long time, they've been very good to me. It's just part of football I think, moving on and coaching in a different team.
"They have a very good team, and we have to respect that, we've got a bit of work to do to get the win."
Sydney FC had a strong start to the season last weekend, beating rivals Western Sydney Wanderers 2-1 in the Sydney derby.
Belgian midfielder Louis Verstraete, player of the match in Auckland FC's 1-0 win over Brisbane Roar, said: "You felt there was a lot of tension before the game, and I'm so happy we kept the three points in Auckland.
"Everything was a little bit new but you feel that the city is happy we're here, so we have to perform each week how we did last weekend.
"There's room for improvement but we kept a clean sheet, we didn't give too many chances away, they had three shots from outside the box, so that was a good accomplishment."
Goalkeep Alex Paulsen said having 'The Port' behind them was amazing and he hoped the level of support seen last Saturday continued for the rest of the season.
"It was electric. It was very special to have a crowd like that on the weekend, especially for our first game of the season."
Paulsen signed for Auckland FC on loan from AFC Bournemouth earlier this year.
"The last couple of months have been pretty crazy, it's been pretty emotional for me and my family and it's been non-stop football so it's nice to finally just settle in."
Colombian winger Neyder Moreno has been included in the squad for the first time. Moreno couldn't feature in game one as Auckland FC were still finalising his contract.
Phoenix go west
Elsewhere in the A-League, the Wellington Phoenix travel to Western Australia to take on Perth Glory in the "distance derby" on Saturday.
New signing Stefan Colakovski could make his debut for the Phoenix against his former club.
The Phoenix drew 1-1 against Western United to start the season after leading through a Kosta Barbarouses strike just before half time.
A plethora of players are still unavailable for the Phoenix through injury including new signings Paulo Retre and Marco Rojas.
Kiwi goalkeeper Oli Sail spent five seasons at the Nix and is set to face off his former team once again.
Sail had a poor start to the season with the Glory as he had six goals put past him in their 6-1 loss against Macarthur FC.
Auckland FC squad for match against Sydney FC:
Michael Woud, Hiroki Sakai, Scott Galloway, Nando Pijnaker, Tommy Smith, Louis Verstraete, Cam Howieson, Max Mata, Guillermo May, Alex Paulsen, Liam Gillion, Francis de Vries, Callan Elliot, Finn McKenlay, Jesse Randall, Jake Brimmer, Dan Hall, Neyder Moreno, Logan Rogerson, Felipe Gallegos.
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