Melbourne Victory have the depth to overcome the loss of as many four first-choice players ahead of next week’s away clash against Central Coast, according to coach Mehmet Durakovic.
Having performed brilliantly in a fighting 2-2 draw against Brisbane Roar where they were down to nine men for the final 54 minutes, Melbourne must now confront last season’s other Grand Finalist without two key attacking players in Harry Kewell and Carlos Hernandez, who will be on international duty, as well as the two players sent off on Saturday, goalkeeper Ante Covic and defender Matthew Foschini.
Having watched some of his least experienced players, including debutant goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas, perform with aplomb in a high-pressure match with a numerical disadvantage, Durakovic has every faith in whoever he gives the chance next week to do the job.
“We’ve got the young boys coming through, there’s no doubt about that. I know Harry and Carlos will be missing, but I have full faith in every player that we’ve got in this team and we’ve got a fantastic bunch of footballers,” he said.
The lack of personnel at Victory’s disposal prompted Archie Thompson to remark to now retired defender Kevin Muscat that he would need to get his boots on next week.
Victory haven’t given up on getting the red card against Foschini for his tackle on Thomas Broich rescinded on appeal, with Durakovic describing the decision as ‘unacceptable’.
“We’re not that kind of team. We are not a rough team, we like to play football and I’m really gutted for Matthew because he is not that type of footballer,” he said.
“We will talk about it (an appeal) on Monday and see what we have to do.”
It was a truly remarkable first 36 minutes with four goals and two send offs.
Thompson played in a similar match for Melbourne five years ago against the Central Coast Mariners, with Victory holding onto a 3-3 draw despite losing two players to send offs.
The experienced striker, who has scored three goals in the past two matches, felt that this performance surpassed that effort, considering the Roar haven’t lost in 33 games.
“I think the difference is side we played against tonight. They are a great team and I must admit when I saw Covic get sent off I thought the floodgates we’re going to open,” he said.
“The performance they put in and the heart that we showed out there, it was like a win to us.”
“It’s tough enough playing Brisbane when you have 11. But when you go down to nine so early in the game, to show the heart the guys did was amazing.”
“Hopefully we can take the performance tonight into the rest of the season. I think that performance tonight is what this club is about.”
