Fresh from a week off, Melbourne Victory is raring to get back into action in Sunday’s Hyundai A-League Semi Final against Brisbane Roar.
Victory, which earned a home Semi Final after finishing second in the regular season, is aiming to reach its second Grand Final in three years.
While Victory has won just two of its past six games, defender James Donachie said the side is confident at the business end of the campaign.
“That was on us, but we can look forward (now). We’ve got something to achieve. We’ve got something to go out there and win,” Donachie said.
“If we didn’t have motivation for this game we’d been in a lot of strife – but everyone does.”
Last season, Roar defeated Victory 2-1 in an Elimination Final at Suncorp Stadium with Thomas Broich scoring the winner in second-half stoppage time.
Donachie was on the winning side that day and – having swapped camps this season – the centre-back conceded some of his former teammates had been reminding him of that result since Roar defeated Western Sydney Wanderers on Friday night.
“Definitely a bit of banter flying around, started as soon as they won (against Wanderers),” he said.
“If I can do them over in this final, I’m probably going to be one of the happiest players on the park.”
On Sunday, Victory will look to capitalise on the advantage it has over Brisbane, which is in Thailand this week for an AFC Champions League game.
Roar plays Muangthong United on Wednesday night in a crucial fixture before flying to Melbourne from Bangkok to face Victory.
“I’ve played ACL before, I know what it’s like. It’s a lot of long flights,” Donachie said on Monday.
“They’ve got the game Wednesday, so we’ll have a better idea who they take over and who they’re going to rest. But it’s a good advantage.”
Victory attacking midfielder James Troisi added: “It’s definitely not going to be easy for them but in saying that, that’s the way it is.
“I’m not sure what type of squad they took over. I’m sure they’ll rest a few players.
“But we can’t focus on that and say it’ll be easy, because if we think like that we’re going to be punished.”
Tickets for Victory’s Semi Final against Roar at AAMI Park are available here.
