Vice-Captain Matt Thompson has pinpointed confidence as a key factor in Melbourne Heart FC securing its first win of the season against Sydney FC on Saturday night.
Vice-Captain Matt Thompson has pinpointed confidence as a key factor in Melbourne Heart FC securing its first win of the season against Sydney FC on Saturday night.
Heart narrowly missed out on claiming win number one during the Melbourne Derby last week, emerging with a solitary point despite dominating proceedings.
The Red and White appeared a different outfit to the team which stuttered when challenged by Perth Glory a week earlier, indicating the level of potential which exists within the side.
However, Thompson believes the time is now for Heart to make its move, stating the Club is providing too much of a head start to its opposition.
“Confidence is a massive thing. You only have to look at the top teams on the table and they have a bit of swagger about them as they are playing well,” he said.
“When you play well, you enjoy it, and it then becomes a habit. We have to get into that mind frame, and coming out of the match against Victory, we can take a lot of our performance.
“At the same time, it doesn-t mean it-s just going to happen again, and we-re content with that. We have to pick up three points wherever we can.”
While the much improved display against Victory was catalyst for much optimism within the Heart camp, Thompson warned the team to ward off any sense of complacency when faced with the Sydney FC challenge.
The four-time Socceroo said the near-miss at Etihad Stadium could potentially have a reverse effect on the side, resulting in a deflated performance.
“We deserved to win last week, and that was the disappointing thing too. When you deserve to win and you don-t, it brings you back down to earth. It was a big game for us as we didn-t start well, and to perform as we did, against a side that has been down on form as well, was a confidence boost,” he said.
“However, we-re sitting on one point, and you don-t want to give those top teams a chance with five rounds to go, to stop worrying about winning games.”
