Melbourne Victory coach Jim Magilton praised his team’s response to the loss against Perth Glory in their 2-2 draw against Sydney FC on Thursday.
Melbourne Victory coach Jim Magilton praised his team’s response to the loss against Perth Glory in their 2-2 draw against Sydney FC on Thursday.
Victory looked headed for their first win under the Northern Irishman, but had to settle for a draw after Sebastian Ryall’s 90th-minute equaliser.
But, coming off a 4-1 loss to Glory on Sunday, Magilton said he was happy with his side’s reaction to the heavy defeat.
“We got a bit of a hiding last week, they came back and that was positive,” Magilton said after the draw at AAMI Park.
“They’ve shown me that they certainly have it within them to play attractive football, to play a winning brand of football, to be able to take on all the instructions and go out and actually carry them out.”
“It was important to give a response, it was important for our fans to see that these lads actually care and they did, and they responded very well.”
Goals from Isaka Cernak and a deflected Fabio effort had given Victory a 2-0 half-time lead, but Bruno Cazarine and then Ryall hit back for the visitors.
Magilton, who believes he is closer to working out his preferred starting line-up after three games in charge, said his team deserved to hold on for three points against Sydney.
“We probably deserved to win the game. Credit to Sydney, they kept going, kept pushing, but it was a little bit of naivety on our part,” he said.
“Obviously it’s a confidence thing and it would be nice to win the game ugly. At the end it was a case of back to the walls again. It’s just a confidence thing. We need to break that.”
“Our incapacity to keep the ball at crucial times is driving me nuts so we just have to keep believing in what we’re doing, keep believing in how we go about our business day to day.”
Sitting seventh, four points adrift of Sydney, Magilton said a win can give his team the confidence and belief to make a run for a finals spot.
“I think it’s important that they win. If they won a game like that today, it lifts them. It gives them confidence,” Magilton said.
“Confidence for a footballer is massive. It makes them believe that they can dig in, dig in for each other, and win a game of football.”
