Brisbane Roar coach Ange Postecoglou has said he was happy to hold out a desperate Newcastle Jets side to earn a point in the 0-0 draw at EnergyAustralia Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Roar defence worked hard to nullify the Jets attack and allowed the Brisbane strikers to almost snatch the win when Reinaldo hit the underside of the crossbar with a header from a Matt McKay corner in the 49th minute and when substitute Mitch Nichols was denied by a Ben Kennedy diving save three minutes from full-time.
The result saw the Roar maintain their unbeaten start to the season as well as keep their fourth clean sheet in as many games to hold on to third spot on the Hyundai A-League table with eight points just behind pace-setters Adelaide and Perth, both on 11 points.
"We kind of knew that they would be desperate today with their troubles off the field," Postecoglou said.
"I said before the game from the outside it looks as if they have a real strong team spirit and when things happen like that off the field it just makes them more desperate".
"They worked hard today and it wasn't the easiest of games, it was windy there was a lot of wind and the ground wasn't the best to be honest, so it made it a little bit disruptive and no one got a real flow at all."
"Obviously, from our point of view, we are a work in progress, we are looking to improve in areas but at the same time we are picking up points and we are moving along."
Postecoglou said the most important thing was that his side maintained its early season momentum with the hard-fought point away from home.
"Yeah undefeated and we are yet to concede a goal and if you keep picking up points away from home and win at home it is a good formula," he said.
"We had our chances today, we hit the crossbar and had a couple of chances towards the end there and could have even snuck it. We weren't great today but the effort was there and at least we got rewarded for that."