Brisbane Roar boss Robbie Fowler is in no doubt where his side’s increasing strength lies after his charges shut-out win over Newcastle Jets.
The Roar prevailed at Cbus Super Stadium 1-0 on Friday night courtesy of a first-half strike from Scott McDonald – his fourth goal in three games following his mid-season arrival from Western United.
From thereon the Roar turned the screws defensively and denied a Jets side that had over 60% of the possession without a single shot on target throughout the 90 minutes.
Despite surviving a late scare when Roy O’Donovan struck the post, Liverpool legend Fowler was effusive in praise of his side’s defensive resolve.
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“Of course, you always want your games to be really comfortable but I think we have shown plenty of times that we’ve got a little mettle,” Fowler explained.
“We can see games out and as much as they had lots of possession they never really troubled us in terms of getting the shots away.
“Jamie Young has not had a save to make, so I think defensively we look absolutely solid.”
The win is the third in a row for the Roar and sees them firm their hold on fourth place on the Hyundai A-League table – with five clean sheets from 12 matches this calendar year.
After dispatching bottom-of-the-table Central Coast Mariners the previous week, Fowler explained that taking down a Jets side in the midst of their own resurgence was crucial for his team’s season.
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“I think it’s a huge three points,” he said.
“They come here on the back of a great run – I think they were unbeaten in maybe six, seven games – the manager has got them playing really good stuff and they are a real handful on the pitch.
“But look we are not a bad team ourselves and we are plugging away.
“We have players that are really fighting for each other and players that have lots of heart and lots of desire and that gets you by sometimes in games.
“Sometimes you are under the pump and you need leaders out on the pitch and I think we have a team full of players that can stand-up.”
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Not surprisingly, pragmatic Jets boss Carl Robinson saw the contest differently and suggested the Roar’s early goal proved the defining moment.
“I think we dominated with the ball, especially in the second half, but the game is not played in the first two-thirds of the pitch – the game is decided in both boxes,” Robinson explained.
“We gave away a needless goal early on which allowed Brisbane to play the way they play, which allowed them to probably play a bit little deeper and put more pressure on us with more numbers behind the ball.
“In the second half we played very, very well with the ball but we ended up with no shots on target and you are not going to win a game of football if you don’t put a shot on target.”
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