Melbourne Heart coach John Aloisi is looking for a first away win under his management as his side take on leaders Brisbane Roar on Sunday.
This week’s trip comes off the back of the long flight to Perth last week, where a lacklustre Heart lost 1-0, keeping them winless outside of Melbourne since 2011.
Aloisi insists that it’s no longer a mental issue for his players, and that with the large turnaround of players this season, it’s just a challenge to perform to their game plan.
“We’re not thinking about [our away form] too much, we just want to make sure that we try and win every game. If you look at our starting 11, about six or seven of them are new players so they weren’t even here last year,” he said.
“They’re not thinking too much about our away form.”
He also believes the experience drafted in this season, in the form of Wielaert and Kewell, will keep the other players mentally strong when playing away.
“That’s what you want, you want your experienced players to go out there and try and perform and not worry about if it’s a mental thing or if we’re going to break our duck away from home.”
Massimo Murdocca, another new signing, also chimed in on him sides away form woes.
“That’s something that we’ve got to stamp out very quickly and this week gives us another opportunity to do that,” He said before Hearts final training session in Melbourne.
“It’s difficult when the majority of the squad have a particular mentality about the game, especially in away games. It’s going to come down to seeing individuals stepping up.”
Murdocca, who signed from Brisbane after an eight-year stint up north, is looking forward to a fair contest against his old team, insisting there are no hard feelings between him and his former teammates.
“I have a lot of respect for the boys and they’ve got a lot of respect for me and it’s just another game at the end of the day.
“I’m going to really enjoy the experience. It’s the first time I’ve played against my old team so we’ll see how we go.”
Skipper Harry Kewell has been labelled a 50-50 chance of playing once again, with Aloisi set to make a final decision on his fitness Saturday morning. However, defender Patrick Kisnorbo has been ruled out for the clash with a knee injury sustained against Perth last week with Liberian international Patrick Gerhardt slotting into the centre-half role.
Melbourne Heart take on top of the table Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday. The game is scheduled for a 4:00pm kick-off.