Melbourne Victory coach Mehmet Durakovic expects to have Archie Thompson at his disposal for Friday night’s derby against the Heart at AAMI Park even though the star striker left the field with an ankle injury during Sunday’s 3-1 win over Wellington Phoenix.
Melbourne Victory coach Mehmet Durakovic expects to have Archie Thompson at his disposal for Friday night’s derby against the Heart at AAMI Park even though the star striker left the field with an ankle injury during Sunday’s 3-1 win over Wellington Phoenix.
Thompson sparked the Victory with the opening goal of the game, his fifth of the season so far, as Durakovic’s men piled on three goals in 21 minutes and should probably have scored even more.
But some of the shine came off the win in the closing stages with Thompson substituted with about 15 minutes remaining after copping a knock to his left ankle in a tackle from Manny Muscat.
After Thompson hobbled to the sidelines it took Durakovic only about 60 seconds to take him off with a mind on the five-day turnaround to Friday’s clash with their cross-town rivals but the coach isn’t concerned his man will miss.
“Archie will be OK,” Durakovic said.
“He’s sprained his ankle but knowing Archie he’ll be OK. I’m happy with him coming off and not doing more damage.”
A week ago Victory conceded a goal in the final 10 minutes as Adelaide United snatched a 1-1 draw at Etihad Stadium but Durakovic said after the performance that there had been enough signs to convince him his men are ready to turn the corner.
So with that in mind, the other handful of opportunities that went begging throughout the game notwithstanding, Durakovic was delighted with the performance.
“The last three or four weeks we’ve been playing some really good football and [this] capped it off,” he added.
“The short, sharp passing game that I want these players to play, they kept it up right from the start to the end.”
“On another day it could’ve been another four or five goals. To have three or four chances one on one, at least we’re creating chances.”
“We’re playing the ball forward, we’re playing in triangles, we’re creating chances, the full-backs are overlapping, (so) I couldn’t be prouder of the boys.”
Durakovic was also buoyed because the win came in the lead-up to the clash with the Heart, who have climbed to third themselves, two spots ahead of Victory.
“We keep on playing this football that I want them to play honestly we’ll win a lot of games,” Durakovic said.
“And now playing Melbourne Heart next week, our supporters were absolutely fantastic and credit to them because they lift the players up.”
“Our supporters as well, they were on top of the world because some football we played was champagne and to play that kind of football leading into the derby game gives you a lot of confidence.”
There was one negative as Billy Celeski picked up two yellow cards to be dismissed in the 78th minute, meaning he’ll have to sit out the derby, and Durakovic was displeased even if he thought the second card for a foul on Vince Lia was “soft”.
“We’ve got a big squad,” he said. “We’ve got two or three players per position and everyone is fighting fit apart from Matthew Kemp.”
“We’ll work on that this week at training again and we’ll see the best player to slot into Billy Celeski’s position.”
“Billy has been playing fantastic football for the last three or four weeks and it’s totally unacceptable, he’s let himself down, he’s let the players down and we had a bit of a chat before and I told him in front of all the players he’s let himself and everybody else down.”
“I thought he could’ve got away with the free kick and no second yellow card but that’s the referee’s opinion and we’ve got to accept that.”
