Melbourne City coach Patrick Kisnorbo says he will keep pushing Marco Tilio to deliver on his potential after the Socceroos hopeful turned in his best performance of the A-League Men season.
The 21-year-old played his first full 90 minutes in Saturday's 2-0 derby win over Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park, after featuring for just 17 minutes across the opening two rounds.
Tilio, who has been a Socceroos squad regular recently, burst in and out of the game and could have had a brace but for two sharp saves from Victory custodian Paul Izzo.
"Really good at times. It would be nice to see him get rewarded for his creativity," Kisnorbo told reporters.
"But look, I'm not just happy that he's there at those right times and it's due to the collective in terms of putting the ball where he should be.
"Obviously, he's very good at dribbling but you just want to keep improving him and that's what we focus on - trying to push him and, again, get consistency off him.
"Every day I won't stop pushing Marco just because he's played 90 minutes tonight.
"I'll push him again tomorrow and the next day because you want to get these young players as best as they can be."
There had been plenty of murmurings about Tilio's game time and Socceroos chances, but the City coach felt it was easy to stop it becoming a distraction.
"It's very easy, just don't listen," Kisnorbo said.
"It's very simple."
Fellow youngster Jordan Bos shone at left-back, limiting the influence of Victory marquee Nani while providing plenty of driving forward runs.
Kisnorbo was delighted with the Olyroo's star turn but was wary of pumping up his tyres too early.
"Jordan's been in our system for a long time now as a kid and it's great to see him get the rewards through hard work, effort, dedication," he said.
"Even though he played against one of the world's best players at one stage, Nani, I think you need to look beyond that and see if he can keep doing it week in week out?
"Consistency is a big thing and I think sometimes we get carried away with a young boy that's had a couple of good games.
"Sometimes we need to just pipe it down and be realistic."
Meanwhile, Kisnorbo was confident skipper Scott Jamieson had avoided a serious groin injury after he was a late withdrawal for the derby.
