Melbourne Victory captain Adrian Leijer was relieved to finally pick up three points on Sunday with a rare win away to Wellington Phoenix.
Melbourne Victory captain Adrian Leijer was relieved to finally pick up three points on Sunday with a rare win away to Wellington Phoenix.
Victory came into the match with just two points from their first three outings of the Hyundai A-League season, and were yet to score a goal in 2011/12.
Archie Thomson’s first-half strike and a Carlos Hernandez penalty helped to end that disappointing run and secure an overdue first win under new coach Mehmet Durakovic.
Wellington had the better of the opening exchanges at their Westpac Stadium fortress, and Leijer knows his side were fortunate to reach the break 1-0 ahead.
“They created a few chances in the first half, we probably didn’t defend as well as what we can,” Leijer said.
“We spoke about that at half-time and I think second half we were a lot better.”
“Archie had a goal which was called offside … that could have really settled the game for us.”
“To come here and get three points is a really good result. It’s a big relief for us and it’s definitely something we can build on moving forward.”
Victory grabbed all the headlines in the off-season, bringing in the likes of Jean Carlos Solorzano from Brisbane Roar and Marco Rojas from Wellington, as well as securing the services of Socceroo Harry Kewell.
Despite their array of attacking talent, Victory struggled to threaten in the first three matches of the season and Leijer acknowledged the team’s collective relief at finally finding the back of the net on Sunday.
“It’s been more pressure than normal but it’s probably more pressure (we put) on ourselves than anything,” Leijer said.
“We’re a big club, we’ve got big name players, and haven’t really been playing to the standard we’d like to.”
“Today wasn’t our best football but to come here and get three points in a place where … you know, these guys (Wellington) don’t get beaten here, so it’s a very good result.”
Next up for Victory is an enticing match against reigning champions Brisbane, who smashed Adelaide United 7-1 on Friday.
Leijer is looking forward to matching it with the competition’s form side, who are unbeaten in their last 32 matches.
“Brisbane are doing very, very well,” he said.
“But we are confident, we’ve played them last season and we did quite well against them. We’ve beaten them in pre-season.”
“On Friday night it was an unbelievable display by them and we really have to work on our game and lift our game from tonight.”
“We know that. They’re the team to beat, they’re the team to catch and we’ll be doing everything we can to put in a good performance next weekend.”
