Melbourne Heart FC’s Matt Thompson says the playing group is refusing to get carried away after the Club recorded its third successive win over the weekend.
Melbourne Heart FC-s Matt Thompson says the playing group is refusing to get carried away after the Club recorded its third successive win over the weekend.
After struggling for form over a four-week period in mid-November and early December, Heart has bounced back with a vengeance to reiterate its claims for a berth in the Hyundai A-League Finals Series.
A last-gasp win over Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium triggered the Heart revival before triumphs over Sydney FC and now North Queensland cemented the side-s place in the top six, albeit potentially temporarily over Newcastle and Wellington.
But with the points now securely in the bank, the chances of a debut finals appearance are slowly building; although Thompson said the side isn-t looking too far down the track.
“Personally, I don-t look at (the finals) too much, I just worry about myself and us, and I think the boys are in a similar way,” he said
“We just know that it doesn-t depend where the other teams are, we just have to worry about ourselves, and John said before, four or five wins may be enough, or it may not, we are just taking one game at a time.
“Three on the trot is fantastic, but one slip up and that could be the end of it. We don-t look at it too much, but we know every game is a must win.”
After squandering a number of opportunities before half time, Heart headed into the break locked at 0-0 and aware that a win is crucial as the season approaches its crescendo.
Thompson said it was critical the side didn-t lose heart leading into the second period, and maintained the intensity and level of pressure which eventually resulted in the opening goal, scored by John Aloisi.
“We definitely had some half opportunities there and we knew we couldn-t get frustrated with it, but they had an opportunity through (Chris) Payne in the first half, and another half chance,” he said.
“But the good thing about today was that we probably limited their opportunities after that and we knew that if we kept doing what we set out to do, we could get one, and once we did, we controlled the game.
“It was great to get that second one as over the last few weeks, we-ve done it the hard way, and it gave everyone half a breather in the last five minutes.”
