Melbourne Victory head coach Marco Kurz praised his team’s performance in a 2-1 Derby win over City at AAMI Park on Saturday.
An Ola Toivonen brace led Victory to a deserved win in the Hyundai A-League clash four days before Christmas.
While Harrison Delbridge pulled a goal back for City, Victory squandered numerous chances to seal its win.
Speaking at his post-match news conference, Kurz discussed the win and Tim Hoogland, who made his first start for the club.
on the game…
“Not only the result is fantastic, also the way we played was really good. Congrats to the boys, I think the only mistakes we did was that we didn’t score after 50 minutes the third goal and that means the game will be finished if we scored the third one. I saw a really strong game in the first half, I think we stayed really compact, we controlled the game and we scored two fantastic goals and the second half we must score more goals. I think we had five, six, seven good chances but at the end it was what the players wanted to invest in the game that was the key for me today, as a team to be stronger than the opponent and that’s what I said to the boys before the game. I think the investment is always important … because everybody can play football from the boys and the result was very good because the way we played was fantastic.”
on the win…
“We must play consistently in this way. The win is helpful and we are very proud about the way we played, but at the end we have to perform in every game in this way and we can do this, it’s hard work and it’s good to see the development from the team is going in the right direction.”
on whether Hoogland made a big difference…
“Yes, of course. I think we stayed very compact, he made the boys around him very confident, he organised the back four line, he’s not quite 100 per cent, but he was 100 per cent fit to start and it’s a key player for us and good to have him back.”
on whether the win is a turning point…
“I believed in the boys the whole time and I stayed calm the whole time. I believe we have a good group and that we are a strong side.”
