The wins may not be coming regularly for Melbourne Victory but coach Mehmet Durakovic and captain Adrian Leijer insisted after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Adelaide United that their side is finding form.
The wins may not be coming regularly for Melbourne Victory but coach Mehmet Durakovic and captain Adrian Leijer insisted after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Adelaide United that their side is finding form.
For the fourth time this campaign Victory took the lead but did not go on to claim all three points, with Archie Thompson’s 59th-minute goal cancelled out by Fabian Barbiero 23 minutes later.
But while Durakovic’s maiden season in charge currently reads two wins, six draws and two defeats, he was upbeat about the overall nature of the performance.
“(It’s) disappointing, having created so many chances, having played them off the park, (having) totally dominated possession (and) created a lot of chances,” Durakovic said.
“They had a shot, they scored from a shot and basically that’s football.”
“(But) at least the boys are really playing the way I want them to play.”
“The last three weeks we’ve been playing quite well and (we) thoroughly deserved more than what we got.”
According to Durakovic, his men are on the verge of turning their strong form into a sustained run of points.
“We created enough chances to score three or four,” he added.
“(I’m) very happy with the way they played but just disappointed with the result because I’m gutted for the players because I reckon they should have got more.”
“Sooner or later these chances will go in.”
“Like I said the last two or three weeks I thought we’ve dominated the games and unfortunately we haven’t got the maximum points.”
“If we keep on playing the way we’ve been playing the last three weeks we’re going to win more games than we’re going to draw.”
Durakovic reserved special praise for star recruit Harry Kewell, who he believes is starting to find his feet in the league.
“I thought Harry’s game was very, very good,” Durakovic said.
“He’s getting match fit (and) he was brilliant.”
“His passing, his vision, his running with the ball, he was absolutely (in a) different class.”
“On another day he could’ve had a hat-trick but that’s football for you.”
“But at least he’s combining well with Archie and Carlos (Hernandez) and it’s good to see.”
Like his coach, Leijer saw enough positives in the game to be confident about the direction the club is heading in.
“Collectively we defended quite well,” Leijer said.
“I can remember one shot (from Adelaide) and that was the one that went in.”
“There was plenty of positives to take from the game.”
“We really do need to build on this and the last three weeks although results haven’t been fantastic, the evidence is there that we’re going in the right direction.”
“We’re playing some good football and if we keep playing like we did we’re going to win more games than we lose.”
