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Jan 24, 2012   |  9:41PM AET

Victory look for momentum

Victory look for momentum

Harry Kewell is hoping a rollercoaster Melbourne Victory can finally get some momentum into their season when they face Sydney in what’s expected to be the first of many Australia Day clashes between the Hyundai A-League’s two most successful clubs.

Harry Kewell is hoping a rollercoaster Melbourne Victory can finally get some momentum into their season when they face Sydney in what’s expected to be the first of many Australia Day clashes between the Hyundai A-League’s two most successful clubs.

Victory’s season has lurched from good to bad on an almost weekly basis, with their most recent effort a disappointing 4-1 loss to Perth Glory in Perth on Sunday.

Kewell said both Sydney and Melbourne have struggled for consistency this season and he’s hoping that both teams can bounce back to their best in a match which is set to be a big step in the rivalry between the two clubs.

“I think they’ve had a hot and cold season as well and I hope come Thursday that both Melbourne and Sydney can make it such a great game and I’m sure we will,” he said.

“The good thing about our team is that we are enthusiastic and we want to correct (our inconsistency), so we will be working hard to do that.”

The Melbourne -Sydney rivalry extends from the first match they played against one another in Round 1 in the 2005-06 season.

Along the way there have been no end of controversies and flashpoints between the teams, not to mention the Grand Final of 2009-10, where the Sky Blues won on penalties.

With that in mind, the clubs are looking to make Australia Day in the A-League a similar model to the Anzac Day clash between Essendon and Collingwood in the AFL.

The first match those two teams played in the ANZAC Day mould was in 1995, where the scores ended up tied, giving birth to a new sporting sensation.

Of course, the primary concern for Melbourne is rebounding from the shock loss in Perth and getting back on the winners’ list and while it would be easy to forget what happened a few days ago, Kewell said it was important lessons were learned.

“We know we played terrible. We know we got battered. We can’t think about it too much, but we have to at least know that from that experience we don’t want to go through that again,” he said.

“We are going to put it aside but not completely, only to a certain extent.”

Kewell dismissed any suggestion that the loss on Sunday had taken the wind out of the players’ sails after the enthusiasm to which to appointment of Jim Magilton was met.

“We’d like to always win the game and I’m sure the manager would like to do that same, but it doesn’t happen like that. He can prepare us all we like throughout the week and that’s when he gets his work done.”

“But once we get across that white line it is up to us to complete what he has set out and we didn’t do that on the weekend.”