“We’re good for entertainment”: Davies praises Roar after thrilling win over Mariners
It was surely the game of the Hyundai A-League 2018/19 season and Brisbane Roar are fast turning into the competition’s chief entertainers according to interim manager Darren Davies.
The Roar’s crazy 5-3 win over Central Coast Mariners at Gosford on Friday night was an unexpected thriller between the Hyundai A-League’s two bottom sides but Davies said he was getting used to it.
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“I thought we were brilliant, I thought we were fantastic, I thought the goals we scored were top drawer,” Davies said.
“I just said outside we’re good for entertainment!
“Whether we’re scoring last-minute winners, last-minute equalisers, conceding last-minute and now we score five away from home...they’ve picked up results against top teams here.”
Brisbane roared to a 3-2 half-time lead courtesy of a bicycle kick from Eric Bautheac as well as classy strikes from Alex Lopez and Tobias Mikkelsen.
Connor Pain and Aiden O’Neill pulled a couple back for the Mariners but the home side conceded another to Lopez and a neat finish from Dylan Wenzel-Halls before Jordan Murray ended the scoring frenzy in the 82nd minute.
Davies said he was proud of the way his side had learned from their past brain fades in what has been a challenging season in the Sunshine State.
“I’m over the moon for the boys in there," he said.
"They’ve come down, they’ve worked hard, of course it’s going to be tough, of course it’s going to be a battle but when we had the ball our quality was good, we scored some fantastic goals.
“At half-time at 3-2 we spoke about discipline with the ball, without the ball and with our actions and I thought the boys did that, we learned from Adelaide away.”
Mariners boss Mike Mulvey reserved some praise for his side’s performance but bemoaned their inability to take their chances after outshooting the Roar 21 to 12.
“We conceded five, we scored three, probably could have scored another four or five ourselves at least, should have been in front at half-time,” Mulvey said.
“We came into this game on the back of a decent, plucky performance last week against Sydney.
“Apart from the Western Sydney Wanderers game a few weeks ago we’ve been really, really good at times in games and we were really, really good again today at stages.”
Brisbane’s win leaves the Mariners anchored to the bottom of the Hyundai A-League ladder with an eight-point gap between themselves and the ninth-placed Roar.
“I’m not even thinking about the eight-point gap,” Mulvey said when questioned on the club’s position.
“I’m sure that it needs to be addressed but right now I just feel absolutely gutted that we’ve lost this game and in the manner that we have done.”
