FourFourTwo: You didn’t score too many doubles in your career, but you netted a brace in the 2011 Christmas Derby and Heart won 3-2, how did it feel?

Matt Thompson: Before Archie Thompson chipped the goalkeeper, I had an opportunity to score a similar goal, I tried to chip Ante Covic and I stuffed it up, it was horrible! I had a laugh to myself, I remember Leigh Broxham interestingly enough told Archie after he scored ‘that’s how you do it!’. Later I scored one, followed by another and I told them ‘no, no, no, that’s how you do it!’.

That actually felt quite good, because at the time, when Broxy told that to Archie, I actually thought ‘yep, you’re right, that’s actually what I was trying to do!’. Bootsa (Clint Bolton) fouled Archie in the opening minutes and he saved Carlos Hernandez’s penalty. That was a game I thought we totally dominated.

FFT: Did Archie and Broxy’s banter fire you up?

MT: No. To be honest, what I tried to do on the pitch didn’t work, so I laughed at it because it was funny, there’s no point getting upset. Broxham saying that to Archie didn’t fuel me in any way, because in all fairness, he did what I was trying to do and made me look like a goose. Once you start focusing on something like that, you lose focus on why you’re there. I could’ve focused on Broxham, but I didn’t. I just got on with it and scored a brace.

FFT: The 2011 Christmas Derby ended controversially as Alex Terra looked like he handballed it before he scored, what do you remember?

MT: It hit his hand. I headed it to him and he kneed it into his hand. To me that didn’t really matter! It happens in all fairness, I look at James Holland's handball in the 2008 grand final for Newcastle and that was an F3 Derby. Alex Terra’s goal made it 3-1 and then Carlos scored a screamer of a free kick in the dying minutes. Before it was taken, I was on the bench thinking ‘oh no, here we go’, but we got the three points.

FFT: Victory won 3-1 in the 2010 Christmas Derby, you had a poor touch and Robbie Kruse pounced to put them up 2-1 in the first-half, did you kick yourself over it?

MT: I don’t forget that shit, that was ugly and I was gutted. You never want to be at fault, but that was purely mine. It wasn’t a team thing, I completely misjudged it. I actually remember the ball being in the air thinking ‘just clear it’, but at the last second I thought ‘no, I’ll control it’, but I didn’t and then Krusey was peaking, he didn’t need a gift and he scored.

I remember post-match I was talking to JvS (John van’t Schip) and our defenders, I had a chance to tackle and foul him and they all said ‘you should’ve just fouled him’. I was at the back, usually in midfield, if you missed a tackle, you had guys behind you. I then replied saying ‘shit, you’re right, I could’ve brought him down and got a yellow card for the most!’ I had teammates around me so it wouldn’t have been a red.

I didn’t actually play badly in that game, it was just a bad touch which cost us the game.

FFT: When you joined Heart, did you think about how big a new Derby was for the league?

MT: Not really until I got there. It wasn’t something I looked at when I signed. I didn’t say ‘OK, there’s going to be a Derby, I wonder what it’ll be like’, but once I was in the club and the fixture came out, all our staff and supporters took note of when we would play Victory. They were a big club and still are, they’re arguably the biggest in the country. We didn’t know what to expect, we just knew it would be a pretty feisty atmosphere.

We were lucky enough to win the first ever Melbourne Derby. That was definitely something that was not only important to the players, but just to grow our fan base, it was important for that too. JA (John Aloisi) scored the opener. Just looking back on it now, the players we had on paper were freaking awesome! We had Josip Skoko, Gerald Sibon, Aloisi and Simon Colosimo. To me, it felt like I was walking into an international camp. Literally the first lunch we had as a team, I remember thinking ‘Jesus, these guys are legends!’ and I was star struck to be honest.

FFT: Did Victory make Heart feel like the minnows?

MT: In all fairness, the fact they had been around for so long, they were an established club, had support, so of course we were. Anyone who said we weren’t, was kidding themselves. The only thing we could do for bragging rights was try and perform to beat them on the pitch because we didn’t have that support yet, we only just started and were getting things put into place. We were a new club. Results are what counts at the end of the day.