Brisbane Roar’s 2-2 draw with Gold Coast United in monsoonal conditions at Suncorp Stadium takes their undefeated streak to 18 games, but coach Ange Postecoglou says now more than ever it is the performances and not the results that matter.
With only seven regular season games remaining and an 11-point buffer at the top of the Hyundai A-League, the Roar are satisfied to have put themselves above the clamour for competition points.
Postecoglou says the luxury of training to improve without concerns over finals qualification can only benefit his high-flying team, who still have room to improve as a unit.
“There’s a real focus in this group to achieve our outcomes. We spoke about it before the game, whatever the scoreline is, it doesn’t matter,” he said.
“We’ve still got seven games to go and then finals. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing. We’ve set our focus to finish our season really strong and play our best football.”
“There were signs of it (against Gold Coast). I was really pleased with the football that we’ve shown that we can take it to another level, and that’s what we have to do.”
On the flipside to the Roar’s relative comfort at the head of the table, Postecoglou says other teams will be beginning to feel the heat in the race for the top six, and the next weeks will be vital in deciding who has the momentum heading into the business end of the season.
“It’s getting really tight … there’s some pretty big games coming up, too. A lot of the focus has been on us, but (all the top teams) play each other (again before the end of the season).”
“Gold Coast has to play Central Coast before the end of the year, they’ve still got to play us again, and Adelaide have to play us and then they’ve got Melbourne Victory the week after.”
“There’re some big games coming up for all the clubs and I guess the key to it is having good form going into the finals.”
“Traditionally that works really well and that goes for us and the other teams as well. It’s no good winning a couple of games, getting in a good position, and then dropping away. You’ve really got to have good form heading into the finals,” Postecoglou said.
Despite dominating the Gold Coast across the park for the second time this season, the Roar remain without a victory over their closest geographical Hyundai A-League neighbours, and skipper Matt McKay knows a dominant performance in a draw does little to even the ledger.
McKay has played in every one of the derby matches between the clubs, of which United have won three and drawn two, and Brisbane’s lack of success clearly irritates the captain.
“The performances this year have both been draws, but we’ve done extremely well. Dominated patches and sometimes have deserved to get more out of the matches than we have. It’s great to have a derby,” he said.
“Of course there’s always disappointment, but they took their chances and we didn’t. That’s football.”
