John van’t Schip said the Club’s fans and players were rewarded for their dedication in the wake of Melbourne Heart’s 4-0 win over Melbourne Victory in Saturday night’s derby clash.
John van-t Schip said the Club-s fans and players were rewarded for their dedication in the wake of Melbourne Heart-s 4-0 win over Melbourne Victory in Saturday night-s derby clash.
Following a resounding 4-0 win over their city rivals during an emotionally charged match inside AAMI Park, van-t Schip says all involved with the red half of Melbourne should be ‘proud- of where they find themselves after the side’s run of five wins in a row.
“For me the most important thing is the turn around of the boys; that we-re playing again, that the fans are proud of the Club and the players are proud of the way they-re playing,” van-t Schip said.
“It-s a big difference getting used to winning and they were getting used to losing… fortunately we have turned that a round. It-s been done with a lot of hard work.
“We create a lot of opportunities and that has to do with the confidence that-s in the team.
“We have to make sure that is something we keep doing.”
The win was van-t Schip-s third in the Melbourne Derby and the Club-s biggest over their rivals.
The Dutchman was pleased his side maintained the momentum they received after the first goal.
“Winning 4-0 is a great result, I think it was difficult to begin the game, we struggled to get into our rhythm,” van-t Schip said.
“After we scored the first goal things changed, it was a good goal.
“The second goal was a little bit of luck but, we will take it and Mate [Dugandzic] also produced the pass to Williams for the send off.
“After that it is not always easy to play against 10 men; we did an excellent job to keep the pressure on.
“We knew of course that they came back from a heavy trip ad that worked in our advantage the longer the game was.
“Everything is going our way and we play in a way that we can hurt opponents with our speed up front, we keep the ball better and better.”
Despite the win, van-t Schip is focused on the tough road ahead to finish off the campaign.
“It-s the old thin line, we have to work hard for it and try to get better and better,” van-t Schip said.
“It-s not [that] I-m looking at the team leaning back on my chair… we all know we can improve a lot.
“Newcastle will be a lot different than this game… going away there it-s always a hard game and we will make sure we-re prepared.
“The confidence of the boys is big and the chances we are getting are going in.”
