Melbourne City striker Ross McCormack leads the club's scoring lists with four goals this season - although remarkably the Scottish front man has yet to hit the target from open play in six games.
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The on-loan forward (he has joined City on a short-term deal from English Championship side Aston Villa) had a number of opportunities in City's 1-1 draw with Western Sydney Wanderers on Sunday night, only to be denied by some excellent goalkeeping by the visitor's shot stopper Vedran Janjetovic.
His best chance came early, when he was through one-on-one with the keeper, but Janjetovic stood tall to save.
Still, City boss Warren Joyce is not too fussed, saying it will come good from open play for McCormack, and that in the meantime he is just happy McCormack is weighing in with goals from set pieces - two from free kicks (against Wellington and Adelaide) and two from the penalty spot, against Adelaide and now the Wanderers.
He was particularly impressed by the way McCormack kept his cool to slot home the penalty after the delay caused by the Video Assistant Referee's examination of the lead-up, in which Osama Malik was fouled.
"It looked like a clear penalty. It [the delay] puts a lot of pressure on a penalty taker, particularly on a night when Ross has missed a couple of chances, but he shows his bottle and his mettle [by converting]."
City won their first four games before losing at home to Sydney and Joyce was happy with the performance, if not the result, on Sunday.
"We certainly created the most chances and we should've scored several goals tonight and the game could've been out of sight really.
"I didn't think we had a long way to bounce back, because I didn't think we were second best last week against Sydney.
"I thought we deserved to win the game, we should've won the game. With some of the players here, Ross and Marcin [Budzinski] included, you're getting them up to a level where they have not done pre-season, so it's not like they are ready to go.
"We have to introduce them and drip them into the games, and there is still a lot to come from them."
City face winless Brisbane Roar next Friday night and may have Socceroo Tim Cahill available should Joyce choose to call him up after his involvement for the national team on Wednesday evening.
