Melbourne Heart midfielder Matt Thompson says he is a '50-50' chance to return from injury to face Gold Coast United on Friday.
Melbourne Heart midfielder Matt Thompson says he is a '50-50' chance to return from injury to face Gold Coast United on Friday.
Thompson, 29, has been sidelined with a knee injury suffered in Heart's 3-1 loss to the Wellington Phoenix on January 29.
While initially expected to miss at least a month, Thompson could make a surprise return to the Heart line-up as they aim to end a run of eight matches without a win.
"It's progressing pretty good. I had a session with the fitness coach (Tom Reddin) on Saturday, the day the boys were playing, and surprisingly I pulled up pretty well," the Heart vice-captain said on Wednesday.
"We're still 50-50 for this week, but at worst I think I'll definitely be back the week after."
Without Thompson and captain Fred, as well as Australian under-23 representatives Mate Dugandzic, Aziz Behich and Jason Hoffman, Heart have slipped to sixth on the A-League table.
John van 't Schip's men suffered a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of the Newcastle Jets on Saturday, and Thompson said he was disappointed his team were unable to build on the performance they produced in a 0-0 draw against Melbourne Victory a week earlier.
"I thought the Victory game was promising, we created some great chances and probably deserved to win there," he said.
"It's unfortunate that we probably didn't continue that form and we were pretty disappointing against Newcastle. I thought Newcastle played quite well and we just sort of never really got in the game."
With matches against the top three - Central Coast Mariners, Brisbane Roar and Wellington Phoenix - to follow the Gold Coast outing, Friday's clash shapes as a must-win for the Heart.
Thompson said his team needed to get back to basics in order to end their winless run.
"When we went through that (undefeated) run, we were tough to beat. We were compact and making it hard for teams to create opportunities, but we seem to be slipping in that department at the moment," he said.
"I think if we get back to the basics, stick together and work as a unit then we'll get back to those winning ways."