Melbourne City coach Warren Joyce hails team’s character after defeating Newcastle

He admitted his team was “flat” but Melbourne City coach Warren Joyce still found plenty to be pleased about in the come-from-behind win over Newcastle.

City maintained their run of good form (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

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Melbourne City coach Warren Joyce excused his players’ “flat” performance, praising their character after securing a fifth win in seven games.

The 2-1 win over Newcastle Jets opened up an eight-point gap on the team that cost City a maiden Asian Champions League berth last season, and four points ahead of fifth and sixth-placed Adelaide United and Wellington.

A Riley McGree penalty against his former side and a long-range Luke Brattan strike cancelled out Roy O’Donovan’s opener, giving City a perfect start to busy 2019.

Roy O'Donovan was gifted the opening goal. (Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

“We came back from a couple of kicks in the teeth and showed a lot of character,’’ Joyce said.

“It’s important we keep the momentum going and come away with three points. It’s not been smooth, there’s been a couple of hiccups, we’ve had to show our character, we’ve had to dig deep after a few tough games travelling, heat.

“Without making excuses for the boys, I thought we looked flat really. They put a helluva lot of effort in the last few weeks and particularly in hot conditions in (Western) Sydney with 10 men for 30 minutes. It took its toll and we weren’t as sharp as we would’ve liked to have been in possession in the second half.

Riley McGree attempts the spectacular again. (Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

“Before the game I said if you think this is an easy game, they got to the grand final last year. That’s probably the first time the coach (Ernie Merrick) has been lucky enough to play most of the together.

“Strange game really, it starts with (Dario) Vidosic going down in the warm up. Horrendous first goal, we showed some character to get into things.

“We were good value for the goals, we played well in that spell and deserved to get up and looked like we could create more.

“Second half wasn’t the best, but I’ve seen games like that on the TV in recent days and the most important thing is getting the points.”

Merrick, who criticised his players’ effort on their last visit to AAMI Park, was effusive in his praise of the Jets.

Joe Champness will be back next week for the Jets, although Ben Kantarovski (groin) will have to wait a little longer, with Merrick confident of making the top six despite sitting four points adrift having played an extra game.

“It was a tremendous display from our players. No points to show for it, but the team spirit we showed was almost worth more than the points,’’ Merrick said.

“I’ve got no qualms about being in the finals this season, we’ll definitely be in the finals. We’re getting stronger and stronger.”

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Originally published as Melbourne City coach Warren Joyce hails team’s character after defeating Newcastle