Brisbane Roar central defender Luke DeVere has hailed the spirit of his side after coming from behind to secure a hard-fought point against Newcastle Jets last night.
Despite maintaining 55 per cent of possession on the field, the clash was one of Brisbane-s less dominant displays this season but showed strength and character to find an equaliser after conceding an early second half goal.
“It-s always nice to play good football and we-ve been applauded for doing that this season,” he said.
“But it was pleasing from our side of things that when we weren-t playing good football and we were up against it, we were still able to dig deep and get a draw out of it.”
DeVere said Newcastle were one of the hardest tests Brisbane has faced this year, with all three fixtures against Branko Culina-s men resulting in shared points.
“It was definitely a challenge for us, Newcastle were obviously fired up after winning against Adelaide,” he said.
“Credit to them, they pushed us a fair bit.
“They came at us and we struggled to cope a bit, especially early on but it was a good job by the boys to hold them out and a lot of character shown to get back into the game.”
Even after just two days break following Sunday-s win over Melbourne Heart, DeVere said it wasn-t in the positive nature of the squad to complain about their busy calendar and how it may affect their playing style.
“We-re not going to make any excuses, obviously the schedule is a tough one but every club is going to face that at some point,” he said.
“We-re looking to get the most out of things and hopefully get another win at home on Saturday.”
With the Roar joining forces with the National Breast Cancer Foundation for Saturday-s fixture against North Queensland Fury, DeVere said the team were proud to support the cause and hoped the Brisbane faithful would follow suit.
“It-s a great cause and it will be great to get a bit of pink out there,” he said.
“Micky (Brisbane goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos) has got a nice pink shirt lined up so it should be a good day.
“Hopefully we get a lot of fans out there supporting us and supporting the cause.”
