Melbourne Heart defender Aziz Behich has admitted that there are positives to take from the 3-3 draw with Adelaide United, even as the club rallies around under-pressure coach John Aloisi.
Sunday was a topsy turvy day for the club, as they fought back from two goals down against Adelaide before conceding a late equaliser for a share of the points.
Speaking before Heart’s recovery session at St Kilda beach on Monday morning, Behich conceded that there was still lingering disappointment at only securing a draw but credited his teammates with the grit shown after falling behind.
“[Everyone] is still a bit disappointed, because we did want to win playing at home,” he said.
“We didn’t start the game off as well as we wanted to, but we did end up getting the lead and yeah we just threw it away giving a free kick towards the end.
“It’s not good enough to concede two goals in the first fifteen or twenty minutes but the manager gave us a bit of a talk and said he wanted to see what we were made of and credit to the team that we came out and fought back.”
Italian midfielder Andrea Migliorini was the catalyst with two stunning goals, while teammate Behich also chipped in with a valuable assist as Heart came roaring back in the second half.
“We’ve seen him do it in training a couple of times, and it was just a matter of him getting a chance to do it on the weekend,” Behich said.
“It was also good to get an assist on the board, but at the end of the day it’s all about the team, it doesn’t matter who scores or who gives the assist as long as we get the result at the end of the day.
“I can always improve, I’ve said before and yesterday felt like I was a bit better than I’ve been in the previous games.”
There was also a ringing endorsement for John Aloisi, as the full back confirmed that the playing staff had nothing but support for the beleaguered coach.
“We back him 110% and we’ll do that for the rest of the season,” he said.
“The coach is behind us players and we’ll back him all the way through so it was good to get some goals yesterday as well.
“Our second half was a different class and if we can take that from the get go, I think we’ll cause a lot of problems.”