Brisbane Roar coach Frank Farina has paid tribute to his depleted playing stocks after they moved within striking distance of top spot on the Hyundai A-League ladder with a desperate 1-0 win over Sydney FC at Suncorp Stadium.
Veteran midfielder Danny Tiatto returned from a groin injury against the Sky Blues, but the club’s depth is still receiving a thorough test – as has been the case for much of the season.
Farina is still without the services of what he calls six regular starters.
Massimo Murdocca (broken leg), Matt McKay (knee) and Michael Zullo (hip) remain wrapped in cotton wool, while veteran defender Andrew Packer (adductor) is likely to make a comeback soon.
Young stars Luke DeVere and Mitch Nichols are in Egypt for the Under-20 World Cup, as is interchange specialist Tommy Oar.
Farina did not even attempt to hide his emotion when discussing whether the win against old rivals Sydney FC was even more special due to the hardship.
“With all the problems that we’ve had, is it satisfying? Yeah, bloody oath,” Farina said.
“I think it shows the character of the players that are left standing.”
“We knew it was going to be a rollercoaster.”
“The ideal thing would be to win all eight games, but with all the issues and problems we’ve had – we’ve had to change our playing style and system a little bit.”
“They’ve done ever so well to keep us in this position – we’ve had our ups and downs.”
The former Qantas Socceroos mentor suggested a slight tactical change at halftime was one of the main reasons his side claimed the only goal of the fixture against the Sky Blues.
“In the second half I thought we were a lot better.”
“We just had to match up in the middle of the park and then we had either Reinaldo or Serg (van Dijk) drop in and pickup (Stuart) Musialik.”
“I thought we nullified their midfield in the second half.”
“(It was) persistence. Serg and Reinaldo worked really hard up front and Serg got his reward at the end.”
Sydney FC skipper Steve Corica cut a desolate figure after the loss, clearly mournful after his side wasted a golden opportunity to grab an outright lead at the top of the table.
“I thought we played quite well today, it was probably one of our better games for the season. We created some good chances and we didn’t take them,” Corica said.
“We switched off for one set-piece and in the end that cost us – in the last couple of minutes, you can’t do that.”
“It’s very frustrating, because we could have been three points clear at the top, now it’s brought everyone up with us.”
“We had chances, they had a couple of chances. They scored, we didn’t. That’s sometimes how it goes.”
Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka was unable to shed any real light on when injured striker John Aloisi would return.
“It’s hard to say at this moment, he has a special program,” Lavicka said.
“We’ll see next week – I hope he will be ready for the next game against Central Coast.”
“We cannot risk his health because the season is very long.”
