Brisbane Roar coach Ange Postecoglou refused to be satisfied with a fighting draw against Perth Glory on Sunday afternoon, despite his team having endured a tough week off the pitch.
Coming off Brisbane’s best win under Postecoglou last week in a 4-1 result over Wellington, the Roar boss was forced to omit injured playmakers Reinaldo, Matt McKay and Danny Tiatto for the trip west, along with veteran Charlie Miller, who was released by the club on Friday afternoon.
Undermanned and under pressure, Postecoglou instructed his side to play a defensive game during the first half as the Glory launched wave after wave of forward moves, Brisbane’s attacking threat isolated to quick breaks up the field.
But having gone ahead against the run of play in the 52nd minute when Luke DeVere slipped the ball home from a corner, Postecoglou was disappointed his side couldn’t hold on as Glory substitute Jamie Harnwell equalised 12 minutes from time.
Postecoglou denied he was being tough on his side by being dissatisfied, simply saying any team with aspirations of getting better needed to be disappointed to improve.
“When you’re a goal up away from home, we had a couple of opportunities to pinch a second, so we kind of feel it’s two points we’ve dropped,” Postecoglou said.
“Obviously it’s a difficult place to come, they’re a good side especially at home and we knew it was going to be a tough encounter.”
“But when we got our noses in front, I know the players thought they could have ground out a result.”
“A point’s good but it’s disappointing.”
Postecoglou said his previous experience working with young players in the Australian Under-20 set-up led to him instructing his young side to not be satisfied with merely earning selection, but to take ‘command’ of their position.
“The players wanted to make no excuses, so that shows to me they are prepared to put in what’s needed to finish off our season strongly,” he said.
“With all the injuries and a couple of departures, I’m confident that if we create the right environment for our players that they will all step up.”
While Glory coach Dave Mitchell was critical of his side for some poor passes and crosses into the forward third, Postecoglou believed Perth was outdone by some superb defence from his solid rearguard led by skipper Craig Moore.
“I thought for the most part we controlled our defensive third pretty well,” Postecoglou said. “Rarely did they get in behind us.”
“It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t fantastic football from our behalf but we worked hard and it would have been good to get the win.”
