Melbourne Heart FC’s goalkeeper Clint Bolton is remaining upbeat about the side’s potential for success heading into a tough encounter against Perth.
Melbourne Heart FC-s goalkeeper Clint Bolton is remaining upbeat about the side-s potential for success, despite missing the chance to secure three points against cellar-dweller Sydney FC on Sunday.
While Bolton secured his first clean sheet this campaign in the 0-0 draw, keeping the Sky Blues’ Alessandro Del Piero at bay with a number of important stops, the Red and White were only able to take a solitary point away from Allianz Stadium.
However, Bolton insists morale within the playing group is still high ahead of this weekend’s clash at AAMI Park against sixth-placed Perth Glory on Saturday, in a match that could be classified as a six pointer.
Only two points separate the sides and Heart will look to leapfrog its opponent, while shaking a poor recent record against Ian Ferguson’s side.
“Morale-s good,” Bolton said.
“We-re not getting the three points that-d we want and need but we-re not doing a lot wrong.
“We have confidence in what we-re doing, the coach has confidence in the plan and he hasn-t wavered from that so there-s no panic.”
The Heart-s custodian took many positives away from last week-s draw, most notably the positive performances of youngsters Ben Garrucio, Sam Mitchinson and debutant Jeremy Walker.
“They-re very good. They-re good lads, good work ethic, they fit right into our system and we-re confident they can do a job when needed,” Bolton said.
However, with returns of Jonatan Germano in the not too distant future, Bolton is pleased to see that Head Coach John Aloisi is set to have some dilemmas at the selection table sooner rather than later.
“JA (Aloisi) wants those selection headaches, which he doesn-t really have at the moment,” Bolton said.
“The more squad that is available, the more competition for places in the side there are.”
Leading into their Round 10 clash against Glory, Bolton is wary of the threat last year-s finalist poses up front, including Shane Smeltz who found the back of the net four times against Bolton last season.
“They haven-t changed much from last year and that-s their strength and they-ve built upon what they did last year.” Bolton said
“They-ve got a lot of experience in their squad and have enough quality big game players to do a lot of damage.”
