Captain Adrian Leijer has insisted youngster Adrian Nabbout is keeping his feet on the ground despite a memorable performance against Sydney on Saturday.
Captain Adrian Leijer has insisted youngster Adrian Nabbout is keeping his feet on the ground despite a memorable performance against Sydney on Saturday.
The 19-year-old, who sat his end-of-year university exams just 48 hours before the match, scored a late brace as the Victory came back from two goals down to record a stunning 3-2 win over their bitter rivals.
Speaking after an intense training session at Gosch’s Paddock on Tuesday, Leijer said Nabbout had already moved on from the game as the Victory prepare to take on the league-leading Central Coast Mariners on Saturday night at Etihad Stadium.
“He’s a very good kid and he trains hard. He comes in and just does his work and gets on with it,” Leijer said.
“He said to me yesterday that he is over it (the Sydney game) already and wants to focus on Saturday. That’s the sign of the kid and it’s fantastic for him. It’s a great occasion for him, it’s his third game and he’s already a cult hero at the club.”
The win in Sydney capped off a good week for the club which also saw them beat Wellington Phoenix 3-2, and after a tough start to the season Leijer believes the two results are a sign that the team have turned a corner as they grow in confidence under the leadership of Ange Postecoglou.
“The first two rounds didn’t really indicate where we were at I don’t think. We always had a belief and those two results affected us pretty hard,” he said.
“The best thing for us is how we’ve bounced back in the last two games, (and against Sydney) being behind and coming back to win. So we’ve proven the character’s there and we’ve proven the hard work is starting to pay off.
“It was a great win and we can’t take anything away from that. But we know there is a long way to go. We take confidence out of it and we keep building and we keep trying to get better and like you saw today (at training) we are pushing each other hard and that’s what it’s about and hopefully we can continue to build in the right way.”
Pivotal forward pair Archie Thompson and Marcos Rojas, who have scored six goals between them so far this season, will miss training this week due to international duty but Leijer is confident both players will be unaffected heading into Saturday’s game after they faced a similar situation in October in the lead up to the 2-1 win over Adelaide.
“They’ll come back no worries. Archie and Marco were away (prior to) the Adelaide game and came back and they had Etihad (Stadium) on fire,” Leijer said.
“Getting away for international duty gives you a bit of confidence and you get away to a different environment and you come back sort of buzzing. Hopefully they can come back against the Mariners and put on a show similar to what they did against Adelaide.”
A win on Saturday would take the Victory’s winning streak to three games and could see them move as high as third on the A-League table.
