Rojas rues concentration lapses

Marco Rojas concedes ‘lapses in concentration’ are costing Melbourne Victory and claims consistency is the key to climb the A-League table.

The 21-year-old winger believes the Victory have a lot more confidence after a rocky opening month to the season but having drawn 2-2 at home against Central Coast Mariners on Saturday night, Rojas admits the team is still a work in progress.

The Victory came from behind twice in the first half at Etihad Stadium and then failed to score a winner after the break despite the Mariners playing a man short for almost 40 minutes and Rojas has conceded it was a frustrating result.

“I thought we played some decent football like we do in patches,” Rojas said on Sunday.

“We opened (the Mariners’ defence) up quite a few times and we were probably unlucky not to score a couple more but that’s football.

“It’s frustrating (not to get the three points) but we (have) just got to move on to the next game.”

Having lost three of their opening four games of the season, Melbourne have now strung two wins and a draw together to move into fifth on the A-League ladder.

Despite the improved results, the Victory have conceded two goals per game over the past three weeks and have easily the second-worst defensive record in the competition with 16 goals against over seven rounds.

Only Sydney FC (20) have a worse defensive record and Rojas blames a lack of consistent concentration.

“I think we are progressing each week,” Rojas said.

“The football is getting better, we are creating more chances, we just need to get that consistent 90-minute performance.

“Most of the goals conceded have been lapses in concentration so we need to erase that from our game and we will be okay.”

Rojas had a couple of decent opportunities to score a winning goal against the Mariners on Saturday night at Etihad Stadium but could not find the killer touch required, although he did create the home side’s opening goal with a fine cross to Andrew Nabbout.

Despite being Victory’s leading goal-scorer this season with four goals, it has been a regular story for the New Zealand international, who has missed a number of scoring opportunities throughout the campaign.

Rojas believes consistency is, once again, the answer.

“I got a lot of the ball (against Central Coast) and that probably showed, I was able to do a few things with it which was pleasing for me,” Rojas said.

“Now I just have to keep doing it week in week out and get that consistency behind me.”