Vice Captain Matt Thompson has issued a rallying cry to the troops ahead of Melbourne Heart FC’s match against Perth Glory at AAMI Park on Sunday.
Vice Captain Matt Thompson has issued a rallying cry to the troops ahead of Melbourne Heart FC-s match against Perth Glory at AAMI Park on Sunday.
Thompson says the time for excuses has gone, and the team must perform during the opening weeks of the Hyundai A-League season.
After falling to a heartbreaking 2-3 loss to Newcastle Jets last weekend, Heart is raring to secure its first win and launch its home campaign in flying colours.
And Thompson says it-s critical the team bounces back from the disappointment of Newcastle and claims a win against the Glory.
“To take time to gel, that’s no excuse. That was last year’s excuse and this year we’re not copping it, we have to perform straight away,” he said.
“Having seen the quality of the other teams in the competition, it’s important for us to get off the mark and it would be nice to do it at home.”
Thompson says it-s crucial the team learns from the errors of last week against a firing Perth Glory outfit, which secured a stunning home win over Adelaide United on Sunday.
And given Heart-s slow burning start to the campaign in 2010/11, Thompson believes the team needs to claim an early win to remain in contact with the league leaders.
“It wasn-t the ideal start last week and to concede three goals was pretty disappointing, but it-s the first home game this year and we-re quietly confident,” he said.
“Last year it took us a while to get going with only a couple of wins over the first seven rounds. We definitely don-t want to be playing catch up for the rest of the year.”
