Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar has paid tribute to his side’s ability to soak up the pressure following Robbie Cornthwaite’s 60th minute winner in the Reds 1-0 victory over Queensland Roar at Suncorp Stadium.
The game lifted in tempo after Cornthwaite nodded the visitors home and Vidmar was impressed with the way his side handled the surging Roar.
“They probably got a bit of a spark after we scored the goal and they really came at us, particularly those last 20 minutes, but I was really rapt the whole team defended as a group and that’s probably what got us the points tonight,” Vidmar said.
“Certainly after we scored the goal they knew they had to start chasing and the intensity really lifted and we made some last ditch tackles in our penalty area.”
“We were just in the right slots and the right areas all the time which was good.”
The Reds will fly out of Brisbane on Saturday for Uzbekistan and Wednesday’s return Asian Champions League semi-final against Bunyodkor and while Vidmar admitted the hectic schedule was unfortunate, he had faith in his players to get the job done.
“I think what we’ve done so far has been an outstanding achievement and we shouldn’t stop there, it’s never easy to back-up on two fronts but the group is really united and keen to do well.”
“They’re really hungry for success … regardless of what happens on Wednesday night, they’ve done a fantastic job, it’s not easy but they’ve really matured a lot and are keen to succeed.”
With in-form custodian Eugene Galekovic sidelined with an abductor strain, 17-year-old Mark Birighitti made his debut in goals for the Reds and Vidmar was thrilled with his performance.
“Outstanding, he’s a confident kid anyway, so we think he’s got a really big future, so he just came in and they’re pretty big shoes to fill and I thought he did an outstanding job tonight.”
Vidmar wasn’t all smiles after the match though and insisted his side must lift when it came to building a cohesive attack on goals.
“We probably didn’t play our best football tonight either, in terms of trying to keep the ball, we really struggled to string five or six passes together and that was the message at half time.”
“We just lacked that little bit of composure and patience in a lot of parts of our game tonight, so that-s something that we really need to fix.”
The loss continued the Roar’s miserable home record, where they have now recorded one draw and three losses in the 2008/09 Hyundai A-League season, but coach Frank Farina downplayed talk of a Suncorp Stadium hoodoo.
“No, that’s something that’s going to be thrown at us until we win a home game, so we’ve just got to keep plugging away, certainly it’s not to do with home,” he said.
“The game I thought was a bit of an arm wrestle, it probably wasn’t the most attractive game but Adelaide are a good side and I didn’t personally think we deserved to lose that one tonight.”
Defender Hyuk-Su Seo was brought from the ground at the 55th minute mark and Farina expected the Korean would be facing a number of weeks on the sidelines with a calf complaint.
Queensland captain Craig Moore, fresh from his international comeback in the Socceroos World Cup qualifier against Qatar on Wednesday, admitted the result was disappointing but was proud of his side’s efforts.
“Again it was a positive performance, you can’t go in there and shout at the boys because they give you everything,” he said.
“They work their backsides off and keep plugging away and keep trying.”
“It’s unfortunate, but I’m sure we’ll fare alright in the season, there’s still plenty of football to be played, yeah it’s a disappointing end to the week that I’ve had but any loss is disappointing.”
