View from the Victory, Volume 19: Melbourne Only Playing for Pride

Barring divine intervention of the highest order, Jim Magilton's Melbourne Victory are essentially playing for pride. That was especially the case when Melbourne took on Gold Coast United Saturday at Skilled Park.

"I think I'm going to have to put a bit of pressure on our lads but we've got to start winning games. On the back of a pretty good second half performance at Brisbane, albeit we didn't get the result we went there, but build on that and hopefully take the game to what is a pretty confident Gold Coast side judging from the other night," Magilton told the press.

As if things were not bad enough, it was announced this past week that team captain Adrian Leijer would have to go through arthroscopic left hip surgery and would be out for the remainder of the season.

Archie Thompson, who has done all he can to help Melbourne's cause, believes Melbourne still have a puncher's chance to qualify for the Finals Series in the A-League.

"You find that when players are up against it, they find something special. We are not going to Gold Coast thinking it is going to be an easy game. They gave it to Heart last week. It's going to be difficult still, I think we are confident we can go and get three points," Thompson told Bren O'Brien of melbournevictory.com.au.

In the end, Thompson proved to be overconfident. Despite a 57th-minute goal from Carlos Hernandez, Melbourne Victory settled for yet another draw, 1-1 with Gold Coast United.

Up next for the Victory is a match with Newcastle Jets on March 3 at AAMI Park. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. AEST and will be televised locally by Fox Sports 1.