Melbourne Heart FC vice-captain Matt Thompson believes his side must step up once again if it hopes to overcome the challenge of Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium tomorrow night.
Melbourne Heart FC vice-captain Matt Thompson believes his side must step up once again if it hopes to overcome the challenge of Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium tomorrow night.
Despite boasting a favourable record over the reigning Champions, earning four points from two outings this season, Heart is undoubtedly the underdog heading into the Hyundai A-League Week 22 fixture.
Having claimed back-to-back wins for the first time since December, Heart is beginning to building momentum ahead of the Hyundai A-League Finals Series, but before the Red and White is able to entertain any visions of fighting for a home final or AFC Champions League berth, the looming Roar awaits.
And given Brisbane-s recent run of form, with Ange Postecoglou-s side rediscovering the zeal which saw the Club storm atop the Hyundai A-League table earlier in the season, Heart is hardly meeting Roar at the ideal time.
Preaching vigilance, Thompson says Heart will need to be on its best form if it hopes to topple the Roar in front of a partisan home crowd.
“Brisbane are a quality side. When they-re in form or not in form, they-re always a hard team to play against,” he said. “We-re going to have to be on our game and hopefully we can step up a bit from last week.
Having recently been sidelined by injury, Head Coach John van ‘t Schip has sought to nurse Thompson back to first team action, initially reintroducing him via a cameo off the bench before his 90 minute appearance against the Mariners.
With Heart facing a short turnaround ahead of the Brisbane clash, Thompson says he-s recovered well from Sunday evening-s match-up, and is primed to take on the Roar.
“I-m feeling good. I was a little worried last week how I-d go, and obviously the 90 minutes on Sunday, but I-ve pulled up well and I-m pretty happy with how that-s going,” he said.
“I-ve still got to monitor (my knee) during the week and make sure it-s right game day.”
