Giovanni Savarese believes his Melbourne Victory side will be emboldened by their experience against Central Coast Mariners at AAMI Park.
The Boys in Blue played 77 minutes of regulation time with 10 players following the dismissal of defender Harry Shillington for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
And this appeared to have taken its toll in the second half when Mariners forward Oliver Lavale landed a sucker punch to end Victory’s brave defensive resilience.
Instead, just six minutes later, the hosts equalised with a bang. Jordi Valadon had scored twice before for the Club, although until now never in the A-League, but it was worth the wait as he netted an absolute pearler.
Speaking during the post-match press conference, Savarese praised his team’s discipline in difficult circumstances on home soil.
“When we went to 10 men, the fact that they stayed disciplined, the fact that they stayed in the structure that we asked them to do, I was very proud. Unfortunately, there’s a goal that we shouldn’t have conceded. This is the second goal that we give away in a similar situation.
“But after that, I thought that we reacted very well. We went forward, we created chances, and even towards the end, there was the feeling that we could have won the game with 10 men. There was that feeling in which we completely took over the game, and we were trying to go for the win.
“So, very proud of the performance. Although I’m not happy because we didn’t win three points, we feel that we grew as a team today because we have never suffered as we suffered today, and I think that builds a strong culture in the Club.”
The Head Coach’s debrief included an assessment of Valadon’s performance, whose goal, his second of the season after netting in the AFC Champions League Two win over FC Seoul, earned Victory a point.
“He’s scoring goals, beautiful goals, and he’s putting a lot of good play on the field. He’s growing as a player. He’s also learning a lot more about his position, how to cover his position with the ball, and he is, for me, a player who’s grown so much in all the pre-season games, and today he gave us an important goal that could be a goal of the year.”
Watch the full press conference below.
