It’s two Melbourne Derby wins in the space of ten days for City and Head Coach John van’t Schip believes his side deserved to progress to the Final of the Westfield FFA Cup after a commanding performance.
It was action galore at AAMI Park on Tuesday night as Luke Brattan and Fernando Brandan both found the net in the 2-0 Semi Final win.
The match ebbed and flowed with plenty of heated moments that has come to be expected from the Melbourne Derby and the Dutchman could not have been happier with the way his side bounced back from Friday’s defeat, saying they will be a difficult side to beat this season if they show the same intent.
“This was a big opportunity for players to play on a big stage and they did very good. As a result, we’re in the final and we’re very happy about that,” van’t Schip said.
“We were disciplined, we knew that there was going to be a lot of emotion especially after the last game. Looking at the game we played against Perth and the game that Victory played in Adelaide, we had to bounce back.
“We had a great performance in the first game, we wanted to be on top immediately again. It was tougher today because they were fired up and they showed that they were out there to try to get a result but I think that’s the quality of our team.
“Everybody was motivated, prepared and ready. The other thing is you talk about is the performance and our intentions were good and the performance on top of that was enough to win this evening and I think it was a deserved win.”
The intent to bounce back from the Perth loss was obvious from the first whistle as City’s positivity in possession opened the door for three chances in the first ten minutes, including Brattan’s opener.
The change of mindset was something the Head Coach wanted from City, believing this was the mentality his side must head out onto the park with in every match of the season.
“We don’t want to be seen as a team that’s only fighting, but we can do that together with the football we want to play and that’s a big win, it’s something that we have to bring every time,” he said.
“I think we have to keep playing with the discipline we work on and then we are a team that is difficult to beat and we can win a lot of games. That’s what we have to be focused on and keep in working.
“It’s still a long while before we play the final but we have a lot of league games in-between and we just have to focus now on Adelaide because this is history, it’s gone, we take it with us.
“It’s a great achievement but Friday is Adelaide and that’s the next important game.”
It’s a two day turnaround for City as they prepare for the Round 4 encounter at AAMI Park and van’t Schip is confident he will have Bruce Kamau back for the contest. The forward received a knock to the head during the Perth match and was rested through concussion despite training strongly on Monday.
Nicolas Colazo will miss Friday’s contest with the Argentine undergoing surgery for the ear injury that has kept him out of the past two weeks. His return is dependent on the success of his surgery.
City take on reigning Champions Adelaide United this Friday night, kick-off 7.50pm. Click here to secure your tickets for the match or why not sign up as a member for the 2016/17 season today to see all of our home matches at AAMI Park.
