Hat-trick hero Matt Thompson has said Newcastle’s surprise 4-2 win over Melbourne on Friday night was just reward for the team’s good form in the Hyundai A-League over the past month.
The defending Hyundai A-League champions have been playing with confidence during their last four matches without results going their way. They held early leads in matches against Adelaide, Queensland and Sydney before being overrun in the final moments to come away with just one point in three starts.
But Thompson said the three points from Friday night’s win was ‘deserved’ and gives the team a glimmer of hope of still making this year’s finals campaign.
“We knew that this game it was just going to happen,” he said after the match. “We probably have been saying that for the last couple of weeks but if it didn’t happen in this one it was going to be pretty much over for us.”
“Three points is a massive thing for us at the moment. The confidence is always up and for the last few weeks we have been playing well. And it was good to come away with more goals than them.”
“We know that a few wins on the trot and all of a sudden you are just outside the four.”
Thompson said Newcastle coach Gary van Egmond had instilled the need to concentrate in the period before and after half-time and towards the end of the 90 minutes which has been the downfall of the Jets this season.
“We have spoken about the number of goals scored just before and after half-time or near the end of the game and it was good for us that the third goal that was scored just after half-time was us,” Thompson said.
“If you go back a couple of weeks it was the other team scoring at that time and all of a sudden we would be on the backfoot. But it was great that we went on with it tonight.
“It was a bit disappointing that we let those two goals in but I thought it was a massive performance from everyone and even in the last minute of the game everyone was chasing everything because the way our season has been going we knew we couldn’t let this one go.”
Thompson, who registered the first hat-trick of the 2008/09 Hyundai A-League campaign and the first in his professional career said the team had worked hard on being more effective in front of goal and he had enjoyed his move up front from the midfield.
He also said the team, which now sits seven points out of the top four with five rounds left to play, hadn’t given up hope of making this year’s finals campaign.
“We worked a lot on getting the ball in the box during the week and I am not renowned for heading but it was good to get on the score sheet,” he said. “The other goals were just a bonus I guess but it was good to get the win.”
“We approach every game the same and over the last few weeks things haven’t been going for us but tonight it did. Hopefully other results will go our way over the next couple of weeks and we can continue to win.”
“We do (believe we can still make the finals). We will just focus on our games week-in and week-out and see if other results go our way. If we can get some wins and other games go our way, which we need, then anything can happen.”
