Consecutive draws have extended Melbourne Victory’s unbeaten run to eight matches, but goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas has backed his side to return to the winners’ list on Saturday night.
“Two draws in a row for a Club of our stature is not good enough,” Thomas said Wednesday.
“We look forward to going to Sydney this week with the right attitude and putting on a good performance.”
Thomas addressed the media as training intensifies for a busy fixture period, knowing full well that confidence would be key as the team tackles six matches in 21 days.
“We sat down and spoke as a team and asked questions [of ourselves]. The massive one for us was attitude.
“You find out when you play [for Melbourne Victory], when you play at AAMI Park that teams tend to lift a good 10-20% in front of a massive crowd, a good atmosphere, perfect pitch.
“If you don’t turn up wanting to fight then you get what happened against Wellington. The challenge for us is to start [positively] and not have a setback for us to switch on.”
Thomas and his teammates began the season with back-to-back defeats before a run of six wins and a pair of draws catapulted the boys in blue into a share of second on the Hyundai A-League table.
Having started the 2017/18 campaign slowly, the reigning Joe Marston Medallist knows that now, just as then, a quick response is what’s needed.
“It was important for us to turn our results around quickly after the first two games.
“When you start off with two, three and four [losses], even at training thing get a bit tense. You tend to play safer, even at the back you’re a bit nervous so you start to [play] longer.
“So nullifying those two losses early on and getting those wins … after you get two or three on the bounce the whole atmosphere of the Club and training tends to relax and everyone plays their best football.
A Sydneysider himself, Thomas is looking forward to a homecoming and the opportunity that affords, but not before securing a vital three points
“It’s the same as usual for us, we’ll come in and take a look at them. The coaches do a great job in giving us areas we can hurt them [and identify] their dangers.
“We’ll pay full respect to them and go up with the right attitude. I’m excited to get back to Sydney, get the family there to watch, but we’re expecting a tough battle.”