Adelaide United coach John Kosmina was pleased with the character and resilience shown by his team despite suffering a 2-1 loss to Wellington Phoenix at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday.
Although the result stretched Adelaide's winless stretch to six matches - their equal worst this season - Kosmina was buoyant post-game.
"They showed a ton of it (resilience) and that's a credit to them," he said.
"After last week (3-0 loss to Perth Glory), they bounced back well."
"I thought we played enough decent football and showed enough ticker to win that game, but that's how it goes sometimes."
"You've just got to battle your way through it. You're up and down through the course of the season and it's been a fairly torrid time for everybody."
"It's not like we're not creating chances. And the football's entertaining."
"In terms of character, that's what the fans love. It's what Adelaide's all about."
One player whose character has been openly questioned by Kosmina is gifted playmaker Dario Vidosic.
The 24-year-old started this season radiantly but has since had his ups and downs.
Before he took charge of the Reds, Kosmina, in his role as a newspaper columnist, said Vidosic showed 'a lack of character' when he ripped off his back brace before being substituted off against Newcastle in November.
Kosmina also questioned Vidosic for posting a 'broken back' report on Twitter before United officials were notified of the extend of the injury.
Last week, Kosmina dragged Vidosic against the Glory for a perceived fall in work rate.
On Friday, Vidosic was again substituted off, the marquee No. 10 barely concealing his anger and refusing to accept his coach's handshake offer.
"I thought he was great in the first half," Kosmina said. "I thought he dropped off the pace a bit in the second."
"The substitution came because we were working on some set pieces that actually work and he chose the wrong option twice."
"I wasn't happy that he didn't knock the right set piece ... especially when the people concerned are talking to him about it and he just went the complete opposite way."
"But it's not about whether Dario's happy or not, it's about what I think's best for the team."
"And if Dario's unhappy, then I'm sorry about that, but I was unhappy about the set pieces and we talked about why he got subbed last week."
"He started dropping off and not winning stuff in midfield or being available in midfield, so we tried to look at a different option."
Kosmina would like a hungry and firing Vidosic as the team enters the season's back end, the interim manager still hopeful of a barnstorming finish and a miracle finals berth.
"We've still got seven games left and until it's a mathematical impossibility, you never, ever say no, we're not going to do it," he said.
"Does anyone in this room think we're not good enough to win the seven games, looking at the teams we've got to play?"
"Maybe Brisbane will give us a bit of a run up there, they're always difficult, but we played Central Coast away from home two weeks ago and played them off the park for a good percentage of the game with a relatively inexperienced side compared to our opposition."
"This team's improving all the time. It's lots of little, incremental improvements that you have to make along the way and they're learning that."