Brisbane Roar boss Ruben Zadkovich hopes his side have now turned a corner after finally clinching their first win of the 2024-25 Isuzu UTE A-League season.
Sat dead-last after suffering 10 losses from their opening 12 matches heading into the clash at Allianz Stadium, Brisbane stunned Sydney FC, leaving the Harbour City with all three points after defeating the Sky Blues 4-3.
However the Roar held on to register their first win of the campaign and their head coach admits he couldn’t be happier for his side.
“Look it’s nice, I’m very happy for my players and staff if Im honest and all the people inside our four walls,” said Zadkovich after the game.
“Through a really tricky period, you know, one of the toughest periods that you can probably have as a club, to see the way that they stick together and the way that they continue to work hard for each other every day.
He went on to say: “They’re a bit of a sleeping giant Sydney, because they’re always a threat, no matter what the score line, with the amount of weapons at their disposal.
“But to be honest I thought we played some really, really good football tonight. You know, obviously it’s our first win, but sometimes, for me, it’s about the way you win and it’s also about the way you lose.
“We’ve had a lot of close losses where we’ve performed better than the opposition and probably dominated in nearly every metric, and I’ve kind of harped on about that, and we haven’t had the luck, and we haven’t taken our chances, and we’ve found a way to lose.
“To break that habit with a performance that was on the ball and brave and playing football the way we want to play it. That’s probably what I’m most happy about.”
Brisbane Roar’s bad start to the season has seen Zadkovich answer questions about his future on a weekly basis however the former Socceroos midfielder is hoping this is the both the performance and the result which will now see his side turn a corner.
He added: “I’ve been trying to not make it about myself, even though, obviously the pundits and the people who have opinions want to try and make it about me.
“I’ve been saying for a long time now, you know, the clubs in a difficult circumstance and the context of that is complicated, to say the least.
“But we’ve stuck together as a group. We’ve got a lot of good people in our club, you know, our management team and our admin staff and our football department, people that know what it’s like in football to have to stick through tough times.
“It’s been my job to try and keep everyone focused. So yeah, did I expect the performance? I’ve expected it, you know, for many more weeks prior to this, but we just haven’t got it.
The Roar now have the bye in Round 16 before they then welcome Western Sydney Wanderers to Suncorp Stadium on January 31.
