For Melbourne City and winger Mate Dugandzic, the season’s second Melbourne Derby is all about improvement.
Having done a little soul searching, Dugandzic – who is expected to fill the void left by Damien Duff at right wing – conceded it was a pure lack of discipline which cost them in their 5-2 defeat to rivals Victory in Round 2 of the A-League.
“I suppose [what we’ve learned is] to be a little bit more disciplined,” Dugandzic told the media ahead of Saturday’s game.
“ At times we weren’t as focused and disciplined as we should’ve been, and that cost us at the end of the day.
“That’s something that we definitely need to do – because in that first game we were all over them in the first half, yet they were still able to score two goals.
“The way they are playing, they’re always going to find a way to hit the back of the net. Hopefully we can keep another clean sheet and not allow them to do that.”
Coming off the back of just their second win all season – and their first clean sheet – against Brisbane Roar last time out, the confidence is relatively high in the City camp, despite the news that Irishman Damien Duff is set to miss the next fortnight.
“It’s just the way football is at times, not everyone is going to be fit so you have to make do with what you’ve got. I’ve got full confidence in the boys and what we can do,” Dugandzic said.
“We’ve got more than enough firepower in attack and midfield that we’ve always managed to score goals in the majority of games we’ve played.
“[Duff] been fantastic, you can see by the amount of assists he’s had. It’s not going to change too much formation wise and to the dynamic of the team.
“Even though he didn’t play in the second half against Brisbane, we probably played better in that second half.”
Often the go to man when Derby talk is ripe, Dugandzic – who swapped Victory colours for (then) Heart – has weighed in on how he’s seen the rivalry progress between the two sides.
“There’s always going to be that rivalry between two Melbourne clubs, each trying to outdo one another. As for THE rivalry I think it’s growing each and every year.
“We’re just hoping the same [big crowd] happens again at AAMI.”