Perth coach Dave Mitchell has admitted his team was lucky to get wins over Brisbane and Newcastle but put it down to a patch of good defensive form which has brought a change in fortune.
Perth was handed a 4-2 win over Brisbane courtesy of some howling defensive errors from the Roar while the West Australian side scored a 1-0 win over Newcastle on Friday night via a late penalty despite being outplayed by the Jets.
“We looked a bit sluggish and didn’t play well but again there have been many matches we have played well and haven’t won, so you just take it while you can,” Mitchell said.
“Some games we have played extraordinarily well and were just a bit unlucky. But we seem to have hit a patch where we are solid defensively.”
“When we started to defend as a unit as we did in the second half (against Newcastle) we were able to keep a clean sheet.”
“In years gone by we would have outplayed teams and not got the result.”
“So it was nice to sneak a win and we were a bit fortunate. Especially away from home we have not done well so it is nice to get two wins – two wins we probably haven’t deserved.”
Mitchell said it was nice to be able to string two away wins together and the Glory will be a stronger team as it prepares for its next match against North Queensland this weekend in Perth.
“We are not creating too many chances so that is something we are better at when we are at home,” he said.
“Teams don’t like coming to the west because it is a situation where we attack teams and we go at them.”
“We are at home for our next match but we know we have a lot of things to work on.”
“When you don’t play well but you win it is a situation where you ask, ‘Why didn’t we pay well, what are the reasons and what could be done better?’ You want to analyse yourself.”
“That is my job I have to pick out problems as they arise. But that is the thing about football – you always have problems to solve.”
