Melbourne Victory centre back Adrian Leijer has revealed his side’s frustrations on the back of a disappointing 2-1 loss to the Newcastle Jets on Sunday evening at AAMI Park.
A brace from Nathan Burns saw the Jets over the line, despite forward James Troisi equalising in the 50th minute.
“Yeah it is [frustrating],” Leijer said on the morning after his 150th A-League appearance.
“I suppose on the night we didn’t really get into our rhythm and the general feeling amongst the group was very disappointed.
“We had high expectations at home, back at AAMI for the first time this year and we wanted to win and when you don’t, you come off pretty guttered and its not nice.”
The defeat saw Victory slip to 6th position on the ladder, 9 points off pace setters Brisbane Roar, leaving them ruing their chances after dominating in last weeks nil-all draw against the Central Coast Mariners
“Last week against the Mariners, I thought we created a lot of very very good chances,” Leijer said.
“I suppose we weren’t as dangerous as we were against the Mariners but it has been a little frustrating but that’s the first of five games at home so now its important that we get off on the right foot against Perth on Friday night.”
With their next four games scheduled at AAMI Park, Victory will be looking to capitalise on their extended run of home games, starting with the Glory.
“Its great I think,” Leijer said in regards to the short turnaround from Sunday’s game.
“When you lose you’re always pretty down for a few days so I suppose its good for us because we can switch our focus to Perth pretty quickly.
” [We’ll] get out there and its important for us to start picking up some points.”
Archie Thompson, a notable absentee from last night’s game, is expected to return for Melbourne on Friday night despite receiving scans on a strained hamstring this morning.
“When someone is injured everyone really goes for scans so I expect him to be okay for Friday,” Leijer said in regards to Thompson’s fitness.
“I spoke to him before the game yesterday and he said that he was touch and go but should be okay for Friday night so as far as I’m aware thats still the case”
Leijer spoke of his pride after notching up 150 appearances for Melbourne Victory but the former skipper emphasised that achieving results are the priority.
“I suppose it was disappointing for me, the most important thing last night was to get the win.
To play 150 games, I suppose ill look back at it down the track and with pride but it was more an important moment for my family – disappointing that we couldn’t get the win.”