Dugandzic made the switch from Melbourne Victory to Melbourne Heart during the off-season after two years, 37 appearances and seven goals for the blue half of the city.

And the nimble Olyroo striker has impressed with two goals for Heart in the opening A-League round against the Jets in Newcastle.

But Sunday’s disappointing 2-1 home loss to Perth Glory means the red and whites remain winless after two rounds – just like Victory.

It’s the ideal time for either side to kick-start their A-League season with both in the bottom three - and Dugandzic knows it.

He hopes he will have a double celebration on Saturday night at Etihad Stadium though he’s only too aware of what Heart must do better if they are to get points.

“We’ve got to rectify what we’re doing at the back, just little things, defensive mistakes,” the former Melbourne Knights striker told au.fourfourtwo.com.

“Defensively it has to start from the top [the forward line] as well.

“If the strikers aren’t doing their work defensively it’s always going to make it hard for the defence so that’s what we’ve got to keep on doing."

He has a point. Last Sunday little pressure was put on Glory’s Liam Miller who was able to direct a pin-point cross for Shane Smeltz to head a glorious goal past keeper Nikola Roganovic who failed to boss his box.

To add insult to injury, Heart defender Matt Thompson’s cheap turnover in the second half let in the Kiwi star again and he made no mistake in front of the Yarraside supporters.

“We’ve got to put this game behind us and continue to play the way we know how to play,” Dugandzic added.

“Victory haven’t managed to score a goal so hopefully we can keep them quiet.”

Keeping Victory superstar Harry Kewell quiet will be one of the main areas for Heart coach John van’t Schip to work on this week.

Kewell, 33, may’ve started his A-League adventure slowly – just like his team who currently have just one point from their opening two matches with no goals to their name – but it’s an occasion tailor made for the Socceroo superstar to make a splash. 

With the armband likely to be tossed to Kewell - regular skipper Adrian Leijer will miss the game due to his red card last weekend - there will be even greater motivation for Kewell to lead Victory to a famous derby win.

The Heart player most likely to be given the job of restricting Kewell's output will be Matt Thompson.

The 29-year-old is coming off a disastrous game last Sunday but the former Jets star is playing down the Kewell danger and is eager to lock horns with the A-League poster boy in front of a tipped crowd of 40-50,000.

“It’s huge, massive. Obviously his name speaks for itself and that’d be exciting but at the end of the day it’s the cliché, you cross that white line and it’s a battle as always…” Thompson told au.fourfourtwo.com.

“He’s just another player coming that week. If we play the way we train, we should back ourselves. The problem in the last couple of games is we haven’t backed ourselves.

"It’s been a bit disappointing.”

Whoever can win this Melbourne derby – the biggest in the fixture’s brief history, courtesy of Kewell – may look at this as their season changing moment.

Thompson for his part is confident though Heart may have to do without striker Fred who is under an injury cloud.

“There’s no reason we can’t win the game. We just have to go out there and want to do it,” said Thompson.

“It’d be great for us to win a game for starters but I guess it’d make it a bit more special playing against Victory.”

  • Check out au.fourfourtwo.com all this week as we bring you all the build up to Saturday’s much anticipated Melbourne derby plus a special fans pic special of the big night.