Melbourne City boss Warren Joyce paid tribute to the performance of goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic following his side’s gritty win over Adelaide United on Saturday night.
The veteran shot-stopper produced a series of classy saves as a 10-man City held on for a fighting 2-0 win at Coopers Stadium.
Playing against his old side, Galekovic was in inspired form and produced arguably the save of the season to deny Ben Warland’s powerful strike from the edge of the box.
“I think his composure and stature was a big help for us tonight in the way the game went. He’s been like that since he’s come to the club,” Joyce said in the post-match press conference.
“You are looking for good people to bring into your football club, he’s a good person, he’s a good pro. He’s elite in the way he conducts himself every day.
“You want people like that at the club and you want all the young players to go about their way like that.”
Scottish striker Ross McCormack netted both goals for City – his third in two games – to hand Joyce’s side their fourth straight victory to start the season.
And while pleased with his side’s unbeaten opening, Joyce admits City have plenty of improvement left to do.
“It’s just another game. There is still a long way to go, there are still things we have to improve and get better at and things we are not doing as well,” Joyce said.
“It’s just four games in, it’s a strong start in a long season so we just want to keep working, progressing and we want to do that every day, not just every game.”
City will face their toughest examination yet when they tackle reigning Hyundai A-League Champions Sydney FC at AAMI Park on Friday night.
“It’d be nice to have a crack at Sydney again. Hopefully the fans come along on Friday night, it’s going to be a challenging game,” Joyce said.
“It’s another good test for us, I thought it was a big test tonight and that’s the bigger test for us next week and hopefully our fans will be there to push us forward.”
