Nishino praises Gamba spirit

Gamba Osaka coach Akira Nishino said he never lost faith in his side despite the fact they had to twice come from behind to defeat Melbourne Victory 4-3 in Wednesday's Asian Champions League match at Telstra Dome.

In an epic encounter, Osaka went down to an early Danny Allsopp goal then after leading 2-1, went behind 3-2 when the Victory striker headed home his second. While lesser teams would have wilted, the determined J-League outfit crafted another equaliser and then a last-minute winner from Lucas which put them three points clear on top of the group.

Nishino said the previous 4-3 comeback win against Chunnam Dragons gave his team plenty of confidence and that shone through when the visitors were 3-2 down with 24 minutes to go in this match.

"This is the how we play the game at Gamba, we never give up and always try to win. Even in an away game like this we don't think a draw is good enough. Every team member knows that no matter what happens, we have to keep attacking," he said.

In a match of so many ups and downs, Nishino could be forgiven for feeling as though the match was slipping away from him at times, but he said he always felt the players believed they would overwhelm the home side.

"I think we were always in control of the game. The possession percentage was quite high. I told my players at half-time that this is a game we can win," he said.

"I said to them before the game that going down 1-0 is not a problem, we have the ability to fight back. Once we got balanced after that first 15 minutes, we were able to play our style of game."

That style of game is clearly very attacking, and Osaka has now taken six points from consecutive away games despite the fact it has conceded six goals. Nishino won't be changing the way Gamba Osaka plays in the final three matches of the group, two of which are at home.

"Teams playing at home tend to attack more, and the two teams we have played in the past two games have played attacking football. Considering we won both of the games, there's no reason to change what we're doing," he said.

While his team is now in the driving seat to progress from Group G, Nashino said that he feels the group is still very even.

"I've said all along that this will be a very tight in the first stage, and I still think that. The teams' ability is very even and I think the group will not be decided until the final game."