Warren Joyce was pleased with his team’s application as Melbourne City FC swept aside the Newcastle Jets 3-0 at McDonald Jones Stadium to boost the Club’s chances of achieving a top-three finish.
A brace to Dario Vidosic – which included a stunning long-range free-kick – and a first-half goal to Bruno Fornaroli ensured a comfortable win for City, who dominated proceedings from the first whistle in a performance that sounded a warning to the rest of the competition.
On another night, Joyce’s side could have won by an even bigger margin and while pleased with the overall performance, the boss emphasised the need to be more clinical in the final third.
“Back to back wins against good sides are good for the confidence but even the couple of matches we lost, the performances were good. It’s about taking the chances when you’re playing really well,” Joyce said.
“I thought we started the game really well and should have been goals up before we scored the opener. We have to be better at that and when we create those chances we have to take them and put sides to bed early.
“We knew we were coming here against a really good [Newcastle] side who are well organized and know their jobs, can pass the ball out and can hurt you. We had a plan with and without the ball and the longer it went on, the more control we got, and we did the things we wanted to do.”
City moved to third place on 40 points following back-to-back 3-0 wins and became the first team to keep the Jets scoreless all season on route to completing an away double at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Joyce pinpointed his side’s upturn in form to a period of continuity within the squad.
“You look at a few weeks ago, Oli [Bozanic] has come in having not played for a few months, Bruno [Fornaroli] has come back having not played all season, Stefan Mauk has come back after being injured for a while,” he said.
[Daniel] Arzani is getting more minutes and you’re throwing them together in the team; there are five or six players who have not played together.
“It takes time to create understandings and we’ve probably had three different sides this season with different players and understandings.”
The boss was also full of praise for forward Vidosic, who has found the back of the net five times since joining City in January.
“He’s a tremendous professional,” Joyce said.
“The way he conducts himself not only as a player but a man around the club; he’s been a tremendous asset to us.”
With third place in City’s hands and momentum building ahead of the matches against Central Coast Mariners and Wellington Phoenix to end the regular season, Joyce insists complacency will not become an issue in the business end of the campaign.
“There are no poor teams in this league,” he said.
“I think [the Mariners and Phoenix] been playing well. They both could have scored goals last night and if you looked at the way they’ve played the last few weeks they’ve got different managers who are pushing the side hard.
“We can’t look at them as easy games.”
