Melbourne Heart FC Head Coach John van ‘t Schip believes his side can still reach the Hyundai A-League Finals Series despite Saturday’s loss to Brisbane Roar at Skilled Park.
Melbourne Heart FC Head Coach John van ‘t Schip believes his side can still reach the Hyundai A-League Finals Series despite Saturday-s loss to Brisbane Roar at Skilled Park.
While van ‘t Schip acknowledged Heart will need to rely on other results to clinch a place in the top six, the Heart boss said his team refuses to cede hope.
“We can still get (to the finals) but we don’t have it in our hands anymore. We still have to believe in ourselves, get six points in our last two games and then hope,” he said.
“The boys played fantastically – with heart, with passion, and that’s what I asked before the game. I have no complaints about that but of course the disappointment is there.
“This season has had a lot of ups and downs. We had some good periods and some very bad periods. But we always come back and fight as a team and we showed some good football. For our first year, we’re very competitive. We are a team that counts and we’re still in it.”
Facing the league leaders in Brisbane Roar, Heart produced another sterling display which ultimately went unrewarded, controlling possession for extended periods and producing a string of scoring chances.
Van ‘t Schip said: “We came back from 2-0 to 2-1, John (Aloisi) had the big one at the end which didn’t work out the way we wanted and that’s how it went. You give away a lot of space and you give more risks. It could have gone both ways at the end but we just didn’t have that luck that we needed.
“We needed the win so we knew what we had to do. You have to keep the balance of course, but coming from behind makes it more difficult. Overall we were very competitive and maybe deserved more but that’s how it goes.”
