Thompson managed a full 90 minute in his first game for Heidelberg on Sunday, and was disappointed he didn’t score. But he did lock horns with former Victory teammate Steve Pantelidis and enjoyed a lot of “banter”.

The Victory legend also gave his insight into what could improve in the NPL after Oakleigh elected to contain for the majority of the game.

 

Little rusty but so happy to make my debut with @heidelberg_unitedfc thanks for all the support #AT10

A photo posted by A.THOMPSON (@10archie) on

With Heidelberg, they’re in a position where they are (third) because they play good football," Thompson said. "On the other hand, when you have teams like Oakleigh who are just slow, it was painful to play against.

“When you have a team that wants to play football and one wants to defend, sometimes it’s not attractive and not exciting. Everyone wants to watch exciting football, if you want people to come watch NPL games and even in the A-League, you have to play attacking football and unfortunately it wasn’t the case tonight.

“I’m more frustrated in myself, there was a decent crowd there and maybe the majority of them came to see my debut.

“I always want to put on a good performance and score goals, but it was a good hit out for me. I would’ve been humping that corner flag and it didn’t end up eventuating, but it was a great crowd tonight.”

Thompson, who departed from Victory in May, took two months off in the United States to get away from football before joining Heidelberg. During his break, he spent time at MLS club Los Angeles Galaxy, investigating the potential of bringing coaching clinics to Australia.

“These last couple of months were good actually, it was good to be out of it," he added. "I think in a way to step away from it and you get a picture of what’s real and what’s not, who’s who and who’s not.

“For me that’s been a big eye opener and to also surround myself with people who don’t necessarily want to be around a player because it’s Archie Thompson, but being around a person who is Archie Thompson.

“I’m not just a footballer, I’m someone else, you get a bigger picture of everything and I’m happy where I am now.”

After an illustrious Victory career that included 224 games and 90 goals, Thompson is still unsure where he’ll end up, but hinted it could be at childhood club Twin City Wanderers in Wodonga.

“It’s exciting times, I don’t think I’ve been this excited for a long long time, so it’s a great place to be in,” he said.

“For me at the moment I’m a Heidelberg player and soon enough I’ll probably be doing some ambassadorial stuff with Victory - there’s other stuff in the pipeline.

“It went on a bit (my time at Victory), I’d do the same thing again because I enjoyed every minute of it and it was great the supporters still gave me that time.

“For me at Victory, I’ve been part of it since day one, I’m still going to be part of it in some capacity. When you think of Melbourne Victory, you think of me and that legacy will live on for a long time.

“I’m happy. I contributed not just to Victory, but to football in Australia which for me is an honour, I’m not just saying it because I want to pump myself up, but a lot of people say it and it’s humbling, it’s great.”