Brisbane Roar coach Mike Mulvey applauded his side's ability to come from behind and grind out a 2-1 win over Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium on Friday night.
Brisbane Roar coach Mike Mulvey applauded his side's ability to come from behind and grind out a 2-1 win over Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium on Friday night, after an impressive first half from the Reds.
United grabbed an early lead through Osama Malik but goals either side of half time from Besart Berisha saw Brisbane claim all three points.
Mulvey paid tribute to Adelaide and their first-half display, admitting the visitors could have found themselves well behind at the interval.
But he said was delighted with his troops' response in the second half and made special mention of Berisha's winning goal.
"I think we were very lucky, we could've been 3-1 down at half time," he said.
"I think they (Adelaide) deserve a lot of credit for the way they played. They play some good football, they try to play the game in the right way and if they had maybe a little bit more confidence maybe they would've been up 3-1 at half time.
"What I said at half time was thankfully we were still in the game at 1-1. We needed to make the most of that opportunity because we could-ve been out of sight at half time.
"But the second-half performance I have to give my lads a lot of credit because they responded to what we spoke about and it helps when you've got Bes who can score a goal on the ground with three people around him - he toe-poked it in. He got two more for us today."
Mulvey said Roar are travelling nicely after registering their seventh win for the season, adding they are worthy of their standing atop the A-League table after nine games .
"We deserve a lot of credit. We deserve to be where we are on the league ladder I believe," he said.
"Today wasn't one of our best performances but it's very important to be able to win games sometimes when you're not playing well, particularly against a team who is desperate for points and playing at home."
Brisbane welcomed the return of Liam Miller who tasted his first piece of action since Brisbane's 1-0 loss to Melbourne Victory on October 25.
Miller replaced Henrique just before the hour mark, and slotted straight into the midfield, pushing Ivan Franjic further forward.
Mulvey admitted he was confident the winner would arrive, with the substitution and tactical switch proving instrumental in gaining the upper hand and ultimately breaching United's defence.
"I did feel we were always worth a goal in the second half, particularly when we moved Ivan wide right and when Liam got in the game," he said.
"Liam started doing what we wanted to happen in the first half where we trying to play things around the corner and because they squeezed the space and played a high line. We didn't do that particularly well in the first half.
"When Liam came on it did start to click a bit more. I did feel the longer the game was going we were going to score a goal. It was scrappy but that-s what we've got Bes for - he can score goals in those situations."