Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick admitted he was happy with his side performance in their narrow 1-0 loss to Argentinean club Boca Juniors. The two-time A-League champions held their own in a pre-season friendly against one of South America's powerhouse clubs that was a bit rough and tumble and following the contest, Merrick was full of superlatives for his losing charges.
"I was very happy with having a game like that. I thought in the first half it was a bit like a pre-season game, it was a little bit nervous but we still created chances and they took their goal well," Merrick said. "It was a bit of a mistake, a backpass and their striker finished well.
"But in the second half we started to get into a rhythm, some good passages of play from both teams, a lot of feeling in the game and we got out of it exactly what we wanted. It was great to see a team like Boca come over and be very serious about winning the game."
Merrick said the Victory got better as the game went on but felt some of players could have done better in front of goal.
"We were particularly happy with our intensity in the second half," he added. "This is the best way to prepare for the league. We talked about it at half-time, the boys stepped up and were holding it well in the middle, getting good service forward. I just felt in the second half Billy (Celeski) should have pulled the trigger and Tommy (Pondeljak) and Brebs (Grant Brebner) stepped over the ball so just the finishing at the end. It would have been good for us to get a few more strikes on."
A positive sign for the Victory was the return of midfielder Billy Celeski from a serious knee injury and Merrick also added that some other key players were back in action for last season's runners-up.
"Yeah it was good (to see Celeski come on). I could see he was nervous early on. It was a horrendous injury he suffered so that was another plus," the Scottish tactician added further.
"We got no injuries from the game. Evan Berger, who had a very up and down season last year through glandular fever and several injuries, Surat Sukha was first class. Tommy coming into the game, remember we lost him for the Grand Final as well. It was good to get all those boys back."
