Melbourne Heart coach John van ‘t Schip believes Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Perth was another step forward for his fledgling team, but they paid dearly for their inability to play out the full 90 minutes.
The A-League’s newest club were within seconds of notching their first win when Perth were awarded a debatable penalty and Robbie Fowler snatched a point for the visitors.
But instead of focussing on the penalty, Van’t Schip felt his team, which led 2-1 at half time, had courted disaster by letting Perth dominate for much of the second half.
Goalkeeper Clint Bolton had already pulled off two great saves before Michael Baird hit the deck and won the penalty.
“The only thing I saw, we couldn-t keep the ball any more,” Van ‘t Schip said.
“We stopped playing the football we did in the first half, by playing the longer ball, then you know if you do that, every ball is more 50-50.”
“Perth started getting more into their game and we had some players that had some physical problems. We couldn-t dominate like we did in the first half and that’s the next step that we have to make is to get control the game for longer.”
Van ‘t Schip revealed after the game that striker Gerald Sibon had been struggling with back soreness and that’s one of the reasons he was withdrawn on the hour mark. However, he is expected to play against North Queensland this Saturday.
“Gerald’s had some back problems. He had some issues at half time. He had some more rest and treatment. That’s one of the things he was dealing with,” the coach said.
Winger Rutger Worm said there is a growing confidence among the playing group that things are on the improve and that elusive victory is not far away.
“Every week we are getting better. You’ve seen it out there. Especially in the first half. We played some great football with the midfield combination and Gerald Sibon. We had a few good opportunities, we scored some good goals, but we have one point,” he said.
“We have nothing for our good football. Hopefully next week we win.”
