Melbourne Victory coach Ange Postecoglou said their 1-1 draw with Brisbane Roar should see both sides praised for an entertaining contest.
Melbourne Victory coach Ange Postecoglou said their 1-1 draw with Brisbane Roar should see both sides praised for an entertaining contest.
Victory took the lead thanks to a spectacular Leigh Broxham header early in the first half at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night, but Brisbane struck back through Ivan Franjic just before the hour mark.
Postecoglou maintained the draw was a fair outcome, despite the hosts having the better of the second half.
The Victory had opportunities through Archie Thompson and Daniel Mullen to open up a decisive lead in the opening stanza, but the chances were thwarted by Brisbane custodian Michael Theo.
The match was played on a poor quality pitch, which suited neither side's brand of passing football.
"Credit to both sides, difficult conditions out there with the pitch not being the best, so factoring that into it I thought it was a decent game," Postecoglou said.
"I thought we had some chances to go two up. We didn't take them and then they scored, and we had to absorb some pressure there but overall it wasn't too bad.
"We had two absolute golden opportunities in the first half one on one with Michael (Theo) and he's pulled off two good saves, so that's probably when the game was there for the taking for us."
Postecoglou admitted his side were hanging on in the closing stages as Brisbane's attacking stars pushed for a winning goal, but said they deserved a draw was the right result.
"They're always a threat going forward, because they've got some quality players, quality individuals in their team," he said.
"We'll be disappointed with the goal, we kind of gave the ball away in a bad area for us and we got punished.
"Probably a draw was a fair result."