Brisbane Roar coach John Aloisi was convinced Saturday’s comeback in a 2-2 draw with Western Sydney Wanderers would give everyone at the club “a massive boost”.
The Roar are still searching for their first win of the Hyundai A-League 2018/19 Season but found themselves 2-0 down after just 17 minutes in Mudgee.
Oriol Riera’s early double was cancelled out, though, with an Alex Lopez stunner from distance followed by an Adam Taggart penalty.
REPORT: Brisbane comeback leaves Wanderers stunned
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The draw was Brisbane’s third in four matches but Aloisi hailed his players for their response under pressure.
“[This] definitely gives us a massive boost,” he said.
“Especially two hard away trips like this [Perth last week and then Mudgee] and then still to be able to play like that, coming from 2-0 down, it’s going to give players a boost and I’m sure the fans will realise that we’re a team that’s not going to lie down.
“We’re going to keep on playing our way and we’ll get it right because we’ve got a good side.
“I believe in the group and the players and I know that we’ll get it right. Yeah, [it’s] frustrating that we haven’t won a game yet but we know that we’re on the right track.
“It was a great comeback from the players and the group.”
Aloisi had spoken all week about the need for the Roar to fix their slow starts, after they conceded early goals in both Round 1 and Round 3.
But it did not eventuate at the Glen Willow Regional Sporting Complex as the Wanderers caught the Roar napping, with Aloisi suggesting fatigue played a part.
“We started poorly, we know that, credit to Wanderers, they started really well, put us on the back foot and deserved to go two goals up,” he said.
“We had a difficult trip back from Perth last week and then another difficult one here and it just seemed like the players took a while to get their legs going.
“But once they did then we started to show the football we can play.”
Wanderers coach Markus Babbel said his team were their own worst enemy, insisting they went back into their shell after taking a two-goal lead.
“Of course, Brisbane had big problems, you could see they’re not full of confidence and we could score two goals but after, we stopped our game,” he said.
“We did many, many easy mistakes… until now, after four games, I would say its our worst performance.
“If you can’t win, you don’t have to lose, so this is the good thing.
“We brought Brisbane back in the game because we dropped too deep, we weren’t in the challenges anymore and our passing wasn’t good. We lost our structure.”
