Born-again Qantas Socceroo Archie Thompson may have been stuck one adrift of the magical century mark for his past six games with Melbourne Victory, but he is confident that a drought-breaking goal is just around the corner.
Born-again Qantas Socceroo Archie Thompson may have been stuck one adrift of the magical century mark for his past six games with Melbourne Victory, but he is confident that a drought-breaking goal is just around the corner.
Thompson is one goal away from notching his 100th national league goal in Australia, having slotted 60 for Victory and 39 in his NSL spells with the Gippsland Flacons, Carlton SC and Marconi.
But 99 has proven somewhat of stumbling block for the A-League's most prolific marksmen and he has not scored since the 1-1 draw with Adelaide United on January 13, Jim Magilton's first game in charge.
"Obviously the goals have dried out a little bit for me over the last five or six games, I'm happy with what I am contributing to the team and hopefully I can put a good performance on Saturday for the club because they are must win games for us and the focus for me is Saturday," he said.
"I think the start of the season, I was getting one, maybe two chances and they were going in. This second half of the season, I've been putting myself in good positions and Harry (Kewell) and Carlos (Hernandez) have been setting me up and unfortunately they haven't been going in."
Thompson, who endured an injury scare last week with his hamstring and as a result came off the bench against Brisbane, feels that his execution is letting him down more than anything else.
"I think the positive thing is that I am still getting in those positions. It only takes one. You look at Harry, everybody was on his case at the start of the season and now he can't miss," he said.
"I'm hoping that because these few games are games that we need to win, for me to start scoring now will be a positive, if we start winning."
What puts Thompson's barren run in context for the 33-year-old is what higher profile players overseas are enduring, such as Chelsea's Fernando Torres.
"I think the positive thing to take out of this is that Torres is doing the same and he's on a hell of a lot more money than I am. I think once one goes in, they all flow. If I can keep putting myself in those positions, like Torres does, hopefully I will start scoring more," he said.
But he denies that a lack of goals is affecting his confidence, saying he goes out there every game believing he can score.
"I always go out there confident I will score goals. It's hard at the moment, but I think the positives too are that the team is starting to play better."
Thompson remains Victory's leading goalscorer this season with seven goals, level with Hernandez and Kewell.