Melbourne Victory coach Tony Popovic wants his players to treat their 2-1 loss to Melbourne City like a 1-1 draw as he attempts to keep their confidence high heading into a crunch clash with Perth Glory.
The Victory-City match that was put on hold due to a violent pitch invasion was finally completed on Wednesday night when City secured a 2-1 A-League Men victory.
But given City entered the restart already holding a 1-0 lead, Popovic feels like the 2-1 result was more like a draw.
Victory had posted wins over Central Coast and Wellington Phoenix in the lead-up to the City clash, and in Popovic's mind his team is on a three-match unbeaten run.
"We played for 70 minutes and for 70 minutes it was 1-1," Popovic said of the loss to ladder leaders Melbourne City.
"So that's the message that is clear, that's what happened. And we continued with our good form.
"We've had some good recent form in terms of results. On the night, we had a draw against the best team.
"We certainly more than competed with them, we created opportunities and we defended very well.
"So we're a team that's doing well in this moment. Now we've got to confirm this busy week we've had with three points on Sunday."
Sydney's 1-1 draw with Adelaide means Glory (27 points) will jump into the top six with a win over Victory (24 points) on Sunday.
But Glory's road form looms as their downfall, with Perth posting one win, two draws and a whopping eight losses on the road this season.
Glory take on Victory and Sydney in consecutive road games before finishing their season at home against Adelaide and Western United.
Victory will leapfrog Glory on the ladder with a win on Sunday, and Popovic is determined to come away with all three points.
"They're ahead of us on the table. We have an opportunity to catch them with a win on Sunday," Popovic said.
"We know they'll be resolute, they'll come very determined to play hard and to get a result.
"We're under no illusions that it will be a difficult match but we do feel confident in our game at the moment."
