Melbourne Victory keeper Lawrence Thomas paid tribute to a youthful Melbourne Victory who denied Brisbane Roar a Premiership with a fighting 0-0 draw on Saturday at AAMI Park in Round 27.
Adelaide United are now Hyundai A-League Premiers after the final round draw in Melbourne
MATCH REPORT: Brisbane Roar blow chance to win Premiership
But for Victory, Thomas was again in spectacular form between the sticks.
He denied Roar on numerous occasions late on in a man of the match performance just a day after returning from ACL duty in South Korea with the rest of the squad.
“We had a bunch of boys who hadn’t played together much at all and I thought they held their own,” the shot-stopper told Fox Sports.
“There were a lot of boys who hadn’t had too many minutes this season and they showed what they can do.”
Thomas joked wearing a red keeper’s jersey was a good omen for Adelaide United who are now Season 11 Hyundai A-League Premiers.
Victory started with fringe players George Howard, Stefan Nigro, Giancarlo Gallafuoco, Scott Galloway, Thomas Deng as well as skipper Carl Valeri in the final round match.
“It wasn’t as smooth [performance] with nine changes but they grinded it home.
“Brisbane had their chances but we dug in and worked hard… and it’s a privilege to come out each week in front of this crowd.”
Victory will now go into next weekend’s Elimination Finals, potentially against Roar or even Wanderers.
And Thomas echoed the sentiments of many pundits who say Victory are not a team anyone wants to face in the next few weeks.
“We’ll be fine [in the finals]. There’ll be a few nervous teams [set to face Victory].”
