Dec 19 (Reuters) – Melbourne Victory coach Tony Popovic is confident his team will continue to improve after picking up a point in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with defending A-League champions Melbourne City.

Popovic took over at the helm of the four-time champions during the off season and has overseen a turnaround in fortunes for the club that finished bottom of the 12-team league last year.

Victory are third in the early season standings with 10 points having won three of their first five games to sit two points behind leaders Macarthur FC.

“I’ve said this team can and will get better,” said the former Western Sydney Wanderers coach.

“I think it’s factual. Players that haven’t trained, haven’t played, came late and missed pre-season, of course they can get better.

“But we’re picking up points as we’re evolving as a team and we’re showing an amazing attitude and resilience, which is positive for us moving forward.

“I think in time we’ll be a better team and we need individuals to keep growing and hopefully we can have a bit more luck with injuries. But that’s all part of the process unfortunately.

“Tonight we’re happy with our performance and happy to get a point in the end.”

Nick D’Agostino scored nine minutes from time to earn Victory a share of the points amid a pulsating atmosphere against their cross-city rivals to leave Popovic thrilled by the spectacle.

“We saw in the last 18 months without crowds all over the world how the games were very different,” said Popovic.

“The tempo of the games were very slow, as soon as the crowds are back the intensity goes up, the aggression, the ball speed.

“I think that’s just natural that that happens. Bring more. We want these type of games and we want the crowds to keep growing and hopefully after tonight they’ll want to see more of that live.” (Reporting by Michael Church; Editing by Himani Sarkar)