Coach Aurelio Vidmar has backed Jamie Maclaren to rediscover his scoring boots as the Melbourne City captain and star striker struggles with form and injury.
All-time A-League Men leading goalscorer Maclaren has just four goals in nine games this season, well off the five-time golden boot winner's usual prolific rate.
The 30-year-old's tough run of form, as he deals with a lingering ankle injury, culminated in missing out on the Socceroos' Asian Cup squad this week.
On Saturday night, in seventh-placed City's 0-0 draw with Melbourne Victory, Maclaren thought he had scored the winner when he spun and tapped home in the 89th minute.
But the goal was disallowed as the City captain was ruled to have pulled back Victory veteran Leigh Broxham.
Post-match, Maclaren admitted he could use the "rub of the green" but his coach insisted he wouldn't rest the striker to allow him to recover his ankle.
"He's a striker. He probably won't score for six weeks and then he'll go bang, bang, bang," Vidmar said.
"So look, we know that he was suffering with the ankle issue, it's still not totally healed. But he's battling away and he's making great runs.
"We've probably got to be a little bit more positive. He's making runs and we're not actually seeing them, we're not playing them.
"Especially when we beat that initial press from the opposition, we're going back a lot of times instead of trying to get forward and then he's making runs and we're not seeing them
"So we've probably got to reward his runs a little bit more. We've got to reward our midfielders' runs a little bit more than we have been."
City face a tight turnaround to hosting Brisbane Roar on Thursday night but after their tough Asian Champions League schedule, Vidmar was confident they could handle the short break.
Vidmar and his players will have Christmas Day off before returning to preparations.
"For us it's quite normal because we've been doing that (short turnaround) for the last couple of months anyway," he said.
"So they deserve - it's Christmas Day for God's sake - so I think everyone's looking forward to it."
