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Melbourne Heart's Michel Beauchamp tackles Daniel McBreen from the Central Coast Mariners. AAP Image/ Joe Castro
So now Melbournians have a choice. Or at least another choice. For five years, the Victory has been the only option for football fans in Melbourne who want to follow a top-flight domestic side. Beyond that, fans were forced out to the Victorian Premier League or home to their TV sets to watch European football.
Ironically, against the Central Coast Mariners on Thursday night, all those elements came together to form the Heart.
There were A-League veterans, Victorian Premier League stars and players with a European pedigree in their starting 11.
Mid-week football is still an uncomfortable prospect for the self-proclaimed sporting capital of Australia (and sometimes the world) so a crowd of 11,050 for a brand new club is a reasonable affair. Even compared with the Victory’s inaugural attendance of just over 17,960 five years ago and their season opener last year of 18,855 also on a Thursday night.
According to Heart backroom staff, the crowd figure was their first victory. A key question now is if they can sustain and then build on that.
Heart’s “brand” of football, a style and point they’ve been keen to make at every opportunity over the last few months, will play a large part in that.
Last night, after a strong start where Heart were able to keep possession easily for the first ten minutes, the Mariners began to press tighter and John Van’t Schip’s men failed to find penetration.
The Mariners were well organised defensively and it was telling that most of the debutants’ best chances came from turnovers rather then build up play.
Despite an increased intensity, and desperation, the Heart failed to find that crucial first goal, with the game ending in a 1-0 win for the Mariners, thanks to a first half header from captain Alex Wilkinson.
As Van’t Schip said in the build up to the game, after only having his full squad together for three weeks, it will take time for the Dutch tactician to imprint his game plan on his players.
A big question will be whether the as yet undecided Melbourne public will be willing to wait.
Worryingly for those who have adopted the A-League’s newest club already, the Heart’s most highly rated players, the experienced Josip Skoko and youthful Eli Bablj, failed to deliver. Though there is still plenty of time left for that to change.
There were also some positives for the Heart though. Despite being 36-years-old Gerald Sibon showed why he’ll be crucial to his side’s ambitions this season and Brazilian forward Alex Terra showed some willing glimpses.
After months of build up and hype the Heart has finally made it’s competitive debut. Unfortunately it only provided teasers, rather then answers to the questions about the long and short-term future of Melbourne’s “second” club.
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