Postecoglou remains positive

Melbourne Victory coach Ange Postecoglou refused to be downcast after watching his side held to a 1-1 draw at home against the Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park on Saturday evening.

Melbourne Victory coach Ange Postecoglou refused to be downcast after watching his side held to a 1-1 draw at home against the Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park on Saturday evening.

Despite dominating the opening exchanges, the Victory fell behind after 24 minutes when a defensive error from Diogo Ferreira allowed Ben Halloran to pounce for the Roar.

The home side hit back four minutes after the break through a sizzling Mark Milligan strike, and continued to dominate play as the match wore on.

They were repeatedly denied, however, by former Victory goalkeeper Michael Theo, who frustrated his old team with a string of first-class saves.

Although admitting he was disappointed to drop two points in a clash his team largely controlled, Postecoglou said he had thoroughly enjoyed the performance from his men.

“I like the way we played,” Postecoglou told reporters after the match. “I’m trying to beat myself up about it, but I can’t – I’m really happy with the way we played.

“They’re still a really good team.

“The goal was a bit disappointing. We conceded a soft goal, but our football was great. I just thought in general terms that’s a step forward for us.

“I thought tonight, the first half hour, was as good as we’ve played all year.”

Postecoglou, who led Brisbane to the past two A-League titles, watched his team suffer a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of the Roar in Round 2 to leave them languishing at the foot of the table.

They have since climbed to third, but when asked if he would have accepted that position after 11 rounds given his side’s poor start, Postecoglou made it clear he has much loftier goals.

“I won’t accept anything less than winning the whole thing,” he said.

“In terms of ladder position we’re OK at the moment, it’s a really tight league.

“We wanted to win today to keep touch with the top two, we don’t want too much of a break there.

“But if we just focus on that I think we’d be missing the real goal which is to continue to develop our football.”

The Victory coach said he was buoyed by the debut of 18-year-old centre back Nick Ansell, who came into the side in place of Petar Franjic.

“He was good, really safe, comfortably (I’m) really pleased with him,” he said.

“He certainly didn’t look out of place there, which is good for us – maybe we’ve found another player.”