| PHOTO: Jim Webster |
Melbourne Heart go into the final Melbourne Derby of 2012/13 as underdogs with many expecting the Victory to take the points, but Heart coach John Aloisi still expects the Red and White to win.
“No one is expecting us to win except us.
“We’ve still got a lot to lose because we want to be in the top six, we want to win for our supporters because it’s important for them as much as it is for us, especially against Victory.
“It’s a big occasion, over forty-five-thousand people, we don’t want to be losing, we want to be on the winning side.”
Going by past experiences the former Socceroo is hoping his side will come out on top despite the Victory being favourites.
“Yeah maybe everyone’s against us, but I’ve been involved in games, derbies where you are the side that no one is expecting to win and you come out on top, so I’ll be expecting that tomorrow,” he told the press after training this afternoon.
Heart will be still without Simon Colosimo and Fred, and potentially for another two weeks, so Aloisi is hoping his side can pick up as many points before the two veterans return and any potential new signings arrive, after the Heart lost Aziz Behich earlier this week.
“We know these next couple of games we’ll be probably still without Fred and Simon Colosimo so we’re hoping in these next two games we’ll get good results then our squad will start to strengthen, we’ll have to bring in a player or two just before the deadline,” he said.
According to Aloisi tomorrow night’s Melbourne Derby will be important so the Heart can bounce back from last week’s defeat and push for finals in the last third of the season.
“So we’ll have strong squad heading into the last seven, eight games so this is a big game for us. If we win then we could end up having a good run towards the end of the season and that’s what we’re all aiming for, “ he said.
With Behich moving on and Jason Hoffman suspended, Sam Mitchinson is the most likeliest to start at left back.
Meanwhile ex-Victory youngster Paul Retre could make his A-League debut for the Heart via the bench. Retre, a versatile midfielder, will provide cover in case Heart are forced into a re-shuffle during tomorrow’s derby.
