Melbourne Heart coach John van ‘t Schip has challenged his side to find an answer for their goal-scoring woes or risk seeing their debut Hyundai A-League season slip into obscurity.
The Dutchman was left frustrated after the Heart had 25 shots to two, but somehow still found a way to lose 2-0 against 10-man Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park.
It was the fifth successive match that the Heart had failed to hit the back of the net and they have now gleaned just one point from an available 18.
“You can’t say we’re not having luck any more, it’s just not good enough,” van’ t Schip said.
“If you have that many shots on goal, dominate the game and you’re not scoring, then something’s wrong.”
“That’s the detail which decides games, it sounds very simple, but that’s what it’s about and we’re not sharp enough.”
Even with the benefit of the man advantage for more than 80 minutes after Jets midfielder Jobe Wheelhouse was sent off, the Heart still couldn’t find a way to goal.
With the Derby against Melbourne Victory on Saturday night, van’ t Schip conceded life can’t get much tougher for the Hyundai A-League new boys.
“For the morale and confidence of the group, it’s not good coming from five games we only have one point and not scoring,” he said.
“Hopefully after this game the belief we have will still be there, if you want to win games it’s about getting on the right end up front and on the right end when you defend. That’s the extra percentage we’re having problems with at the moment.”
“They (Victory) are in better shape now than then (when Melbourne Heart beat them) with Archie Thompson back and (Carlos) Hernandez playing well, so it’s going to be a hard and difficult game for sure.”
The Newcastle loss sees the Heart slip to seventh on the ladder one place ahead of Victory, while the high-flying Jets are up to fifth.
One of the bright spots on a disappointing night for the Heart was the successful return from injury of Kristian Sarkies.
In his first game back from a broken leg, Sarkies came on as a second-half substitute and impressed with his contribution and will be under consideration for a starting spot in the Derby.
