North Queensland coach Ian Ferguson praised the character of his side after the Fury came from behind to snatch a point against the Central Coast Mariners at Gosford on Sunday.
A 75th minute header from striker Daniel McBreen cancelled out Matt Simon-s first half strike in a 1-1 draw at Bluetongue Stadium.
While the draw still has North Queensland in last place Ferguson believes the team is heading in the right direction.
“I-m delighted,” he said.
“I felt we were a bit off the pace in the first half and gave them a bit too much respect.”
“But I felt we were the better team in the second half. The character of the boys was fantastic, they-re a pleasure to work with.”
Fury captain Robbie Fowler also said snaring a point was a big effort after his team went a goal down inside the first minute.
“We are fighting for each other,” said Fowler, who did not have any chances against the Mariners.
“We-d like to turn these draws into wins.”
“We-re doing our best not to get defeats. We need to stop giving away stupid goals.”
Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna was not happy with his team-s performance, especially in the second half.
“Our intensity dropped off,” he said.
“They didn-t threaten us that much but we were flat. We had enough chances to win the game.”
“I think we should have been good enough to win by two or three goals.”
The Mariners defence has been strong for much of the season but two soft goals in their past two matches has the team under pressure for a result against Brisbane in Queensland on Saturday night.
“We should have been good enough to see it out,” disappointed captain Alex Wilkinson said.
