Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat lauded the resilience of his players to back up against a young Brisbane Roar side on Saturday night and put one hand on the Premier’s Plate.
Mark Milligan’s first half penalty capped a perfect six points in the Queensland capital for Victory whose 1-0 win all but sealed their third Hyundai A-League Premiership.
MATCH REPORT: Brisbane Roar v Melbourne Victory
“To put it into perspective as well we haven’t won here since 2009,” Muscat said.
“To come here in four days and beat two different teams, it gives us an indication of where we’re at.
“There was a lot at stake tonight against players a lot fresher than us and I thought we stood up to the challenge remarkably well.”
Roar made eight changes to the team that lost 2-1 on Wednesday night which Muscat believed made for a tough obstacle despite the opposition’s inexperience.
“The expectation from anyone that it was going to be easy to win against a young side would have been naïve,” he said.
“It certainly wasn’t (the expectation) in our group. We knew it was going to be difficult.
HIGHLIGHTS: Brisbane Roar v Melbourne Victory
“Having said that I thought we dominated the game and thoroughly deserved the three points.”
Victory can secure the regular season title at home to Central Coast Mariners next Sunday but will have to do so without defender Jason Geria, who Muscat hopes will only miss one or two weeks with a slight strain.