Melbourne Victory midfielder Mark Milligan insists the side is feeling confident heading into their do-or-die Hyundai A-League elimination final against Perth Glory on Friday night.
Melbourne Victory midfielder Mark Milligan insists the side is feeling confident heading into their do-or-die Hyundai A-League elimination final against Perth Glory on Friday night.
Victory have been battling the absence of key players throughout the latter portion of the regular season, and have two victories, two draws and four losses from their past eight games.
But Milligan said Victory had been buoyed by Sunday’s hard-fought 3-2 win over the Phoenix in Wellington, a result he feels will stand them in good stead for the heat of finals.
“I think we’re in decent form,” Milligan said at Gosch’s Paddock on Wednesday.
“There’s been a lot of interruptions for us. We’ve had some pretty serious injuries.
“We’ve blooded a lot of young boys, which is good coming into finals. There’s going to be a few of them starting this weekend.
“The results maybe haven’t been outstanding for us in the last four or five weeks, but again we draw a lot of confidence out of the win on the weekend.”
After beating the Glory 1-0 in their first two meetings of 2012/13, Perth had an injury-time winner from Josh Risdon to thank for a 3-2 triumph at AAMI Park last month.
Victory were without the key trio of Milligan, Archie Thompson and Marco Rojas that day, while Glory were missing Jacob Burns, Michael Thwaite and Shane Smeltz.
Milligan said the squad is not reading too much into that game.
“I think the last game, when we played them at home, both sides had some players missing. So things are always done slightly different when there’s players out and what not,” he said.
“The game style we’re going to play this weekend is obviously very similar.
“We’re aware of their strengths. But if we do the things that we’re taught and we do them correctly then we’re a really good shout.
“I think they showed last year too, that come finals time they can step up the intensity.”
Milligan said the club had been delighted to secure a glamour friendly against English giants Liverpool at the MCG on July 24, but denied this week’s announcement of the match would be a distraction for the team.
“It’s a massive coup for the club to get them out – it’s very exciting,” he said.
“(But) we’re just worried about this week, and hopefully the pre-season’s still a couple of weeks away for us.”
