Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat has lavished praise on his side despite believing they should have made lighter work of Friday night’s thrilling win over Brisbane Roar.
The hosts raced to a 3-0 lead inside a blistering first 30 minutes at AAMI Park but were pegged back to 3-2 by half-time.
10-man Victory edge Roar in Hyundai A-League thriller
Victory needed to draw on all of their resilience in the second half as Besart Berisha’s red card forced a stout rearguard for the remaining half hour.
“We were outstanding. The intensity that we played under and the chances we were creating was phenomenal,” Muscat told Fox Sports.
“Then to dig deep like we did there, I don’t think they got a shot on goal when Bes got sent off.
“It was a great three points for us. I would have liked for it to have been a little bit easier but so be it.”
While pleased with their imposing start to the contest, Muscat urged his troops to learn from the first half switch-off which almost saw them enter the break on level terms.
“All it takes is one to think ‘well someone else will do it, I won’t quite press at 100% this time’ and you open the door,” he said.
“In this league you can’t give teams a head start, you can’t give teams a leg up. And we found out the hard way.
“The second half we were back to pressing with aggression and with the ball, when it was 11v11, we were frightening in attack.”
