Melbourne Heart coach John van ‘t Schip believes his side still needs to capitalise more on the chances they create after watching them draw 0-0 with Perth Glory on Wednesday night.
The result may have seen the Heart extend their unbeaten run to five matches, but with two of those games being goalless draws against Gold Coast and Perth, where Melbourne created numerous opportunities, van ‘t Schip is aware his side needs to find a killer instinct.
The coach admitted his side had probably dodged a bullet against a young Glory outfit, saying his charges played poorly in the first half as they came to terms with the hot evening.
But when they lifted their game after half-time, the coach said only a lack of clinical finishing prevented Melbourne taking all three points and moving into third on the Hyundai A-League table.
“We’re near (to scoring) but we’re not having the luck still that it’s going in,” said van ‘t Schip after seeing his side dominate the last 10 minutes, with young striker Eli Babalj cracking an injury-time header into the woodwork.
“They had really one big chance with Sterjovski,” he added, referring to a 69th-minute effort from Perth’s former Qantas Socceroo that was blazed over there bar.
“That was their biggest chance and for the rest I think we were more switched on and we had a few more chances.”
“With the set pieces we were near every time but we couldn’t conclude and I think with the set pieces against Gold Coast we had the same.”
“(But) I think the last three games, we’re doing quite well (defensively).”
“Three times in a (row) a clean sheet. We had some problems with that in the beginning of the season, so that’s positive.”
Van ‘t Schip was still particularly disappointed with his side’s first-half effort, however, as they failed to create any meaningful chances and were second to the ball on almost every occasion.
“I think we were slow,” he declared.
“We were probably tired after the game (last) Sunday and the trip and the travel, maybe the circumstances, the weather, a lot hotter of course here than when we are back in Melbourne.”
“But also I was very more pleased with the second-half performance.”
“So I think the result at the end, we can be happy.”
“Maybe with the chances we had we deserve more, but the first half was not good and the second half was still decent.”
