A-League Men, 2023: Jets keeper Ryan Scott confident of building on positive start

Thankfully, Scott and the Jets bounced back to earn a valuable point from a 2-all draw with Perth Glory in the season-opener at HBF Park.

"You go into every game thinking about a clean sheet. That was gone in a minute," said Scott, who joined the Jets this season from Western United. The art is being able to stay calm. Not let it affect the team overall.

"We managed to get a goal back pretty quickly. We could have easily rolled over and said this is too hard being away from home in Perth. But we showed good character and got back in the game and grabbed a point."

But the keeper knows they are going to have to step up against a star-laden Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park on Sunday.

"It is a hostile place to go," he said. "I'm expected a good turn out from the Victory fans for their first home game.

"Playing against the bigger teams with the big players is always a test but I'm confident we can go down and get a result."

After a horror 2022-23 campaign in which they finished 11^th, Victory started the new season with a 2-0 triumph over Sydney.

Striker Bruno Fornaroli scored the opener to take his career tally to 90 and move to fourth on the A-League all-time goal-scorer's list.

"He is a pretty unique striker," Scott said. "He plays a lot with his back to goal and can turn quickly and shoot. He obviously scored against Sydney in round one.

"It is a funny league. You can be towards the bottom one season, then the next you can go on and win. We have seen that in the past two years.

"When I was at Western United we lost our last eight games and finished 10^th [in 2020-21]. The next season we won the trophy.

"It is a new season. Everyone gets a clean slate. I'm sure everyone has had a big pre-season. Victory, being the club that they are, I'm sure success is at the top of their agenda. They will be eager in their first home game to put a good display.

"We need to tighten up defensively. We can't give players like Forrnaroli any sniff in front of goal.

"If we can tight up in both boxes, it is a better platform to go and get some points."

Scott said the Jets took many positives from the Perth trip, in which Apostolos Stamatelopoulos equalised in the second minute of injury time.

"In pre-season, the role was reversed," he said. "We conceded a lot of late goals. Against Perth we gave ourselves a chance by pushing and pressing. As a young group we take a lot of confidence from that."