Melbourne Victory head coach Carlos Salvachua was proud of his players after a 2-2 draw with Perth Glory on Saturday.
Just days after an AFC Champions League win away to Kashima Antlers, Victory backed up with a fine performance at HBF Park.
But it was held despite going ahead twice through Ola Toivonen and Andrew Nabbout, with Bruno Fornaroli and Nicholas D’Agostino cancelling out their efforts for Perth.
Speaking at his post-match news conference, Salvachua discussed the performance, Marco Rojas’ return and Robbie Kruse’s absence.
on the performance…
“First of all, I’m really happy with the performance and the attitude of the players, of course at the end not with the result because we wanted three points here. We were close, but I cannot be more proud of my players today.”
on the game…
“I think we did a good first half, really good first half, we pressed high during a few good moments, we were really compact. I think Perth today were not really happy or comfortable with the ball and it’s clear we have in front today one of the best teams in the league and one of the most difficult stadiums, always, every year. And in the second half as well it was not easy after conceding the goal in the last minute of the first half and then again, again trying to be protagonists, trying to play with offensive always with chances as well and at the end good goal from D’Agostino and that’s it.”
on Kruse…
“He finished the game the other day, he did hard work and yesterday before training he has a little bit of a small hamstring and we prefer to keep him at home and he will train with us during the week. I think (he will play in the Derby).”
on Rojas…
“It’s good. He was the last month on break in Europe and he’s just starting to train with us and then today 15 minutes and we’ll see during the next games.”
