Fifth-placed Melbourne Heart have no reason to worry about the prospect of soon-to-be-defunct Gold Coast United playing top-six teams in each of their final four matches, according to their coach John van ‘t Schip.
Fifth-placed Melbourne Heart have no reason to worry about the prospect of soon-to-be-defunct Gold Coast United playing top-six teams in each of their final four matches, according to their coach John van ‘t Schip.
With just five points separating third and sixth, competition points will be like gold for all teams still in finals contention.
It’s still unclear as to whether Gold Coast will field teams in their final four matches as a Hyundai A-League entity, meaning wins being gifted to the likes of Wellington, Newcastle, Perth and Brisbane via forfeits remains a possibility.
And even if the FFA succeed in their plans to pay Gold Coast’s footballers to front up for those scheduled fixtures, there are no guarantees the players wouldn’t go through the motions and make winning a much easier prospect for their opponents.
But van ‘t Schip believes Gold Coast’s players still have enough motivation to maintain the competitive level they displayed in recent draws against Victory and league leaders Central Coast despite the turmoil they now find themselves in.
“You can be concerned, but it doesn’t matter because we have to just do our own things and then it’s up to the Gold Coast,” van ‘t Schip said following training at La Trobe University on Thursday.
“And I think they’re doing very well because everybody already thought they would maybe give away the games but I think the team and the young players, but also the experienced players, are showing that they have good character.”
“They already had some good (recent) results, they made it very difficult to us (in their 1-0 loss to the Heart on February 17), they played a good game against Victory, they played a good game against Central Coast.”
“So I think the situation for them, of course, is changed because they know that something’s going to change with the owner and the club but still they are fighting for maybe getting to another club next season.”
Heart continue their assault on a debut finals appearance on Friday against second-placed Roar at Suncorp Stadium.
After two wins in a row and with a near full-strength squad to choose from, van ‘t Schip believes his team has well and truly come out the other side of a horror period which saw them collect just three points from eight matches and hit hard by unavailability to key personnel.
“We feel that we’re getting every player back, Fred is of course still a case that we have to manage very carefully, but all the other players (are in good shape),” van ‘t Schip said.
“Even Kristian Sarkies is now back this week training, Jason Hoffman was sick so he’s back, so everybody actually is fit.”
Van ‘t Schip said the Heart would take confidence from the fact they recorded a win and a draw from their two previous encounters with Brisbane this season but they would have to pay close attention to red-hot striker Besart Berisha if they wanted to keep their undefeated run against the Roar intact.
“He’s always there in the box, he’s a real striker and he works very hard for the team as well,” van ‘t Schip said.
“He can have the patience to wait until the last second of the game to be on the right spot, makes always good runs, so we have to be prepared on sharp marking and knowing that he will always try to sneak away in your back and be there where they give the ball.”
The Heart boss confirmed one change for the clash against the Roar with midfielder Paul Reid to come out of the side after his short-term contract expired.
