“Without a shadow of a doubt, the performance is far, far more important than the result.”
“Without a shadow of a doubt, the performance is far, far more important than the result.”
Within Brisbane Roar circles, it would be fairly safe to assume that the preceding statement hails from the mouth of Head Coach Ange Postecoglou, backed by his staunch football philosophy that includes ball on the deck, pass out from the back and quick movement off the ball.
But, those closer to the action know that the mantra spreads wider than the Hyundai A-League squad at the club.
The wise words were actually spoken by Youth Coach John Sime, who on Saturday guided his team to a record-breaking, historic 11-2 win over the Australian Institute of Sport on the AIS Track in Canberra.
Despite the overwhelmingly lop-sided result, the young crop of Roar players copped a spray from their Scottish mentor at half-time – when they were 5-1 in front – because Sime wasn-t satisfied with the their performances on the ball.
“In the early part, I wasn-t too impressed – we lost two ridiculous goals,” he said.
“We were lacklustre and had a lack of concentration and I was very disappointed when we lost those two goals.
“It may sound strange given that we scored quite a few other goals but we set our standards at a certain level and I wasn-t too impressed.
“After the first fifty minutes, we kept our shape and played right through until the end of the game.”
Sime was reluctant to pass rigid judgement on their opposition, naming a recent influx of new players to the Institute and an obvious lack of experience as their downfall against Brisbane, who sit in third place on the National Youth League ladder.
“They just had a new intake and they had a lot of young kids playing for them, just one or two older guys,” he said.
“We had to hit our straps one day and unfortunately for them, they copped it on the day.
“It was good to see they tried to play good football right from the word go and continued despite the score.
“It was our superior fitness and our superior technical ability that got us over the line on the day but I-m sure the AIS will get stronger.
“It was a big learning curve for them – they will bounce back and they will bounce back strongly.”
And while observers of the score line would be quick to hail the contributions of the triple hat-trick heroes – new boy Anthony Prioa, his second-half replacement Matt Thurtell and Hyundai A-League recruit Issey Nakajima-Farran – Sime was especially pleased with his central defensive partnership of James Donachie and Jason Geria.
Donachie was a member of the Roar Youth squad last season but has since taken his performances to the next level in the heart of the back four and AIS product Geria has looked impressive since his first touch on the ball after making the move north from Canberra in pre-season.
“I thought our two central defenders, Donachie and Geria, have been very consistent all season,” Sime said.
“Again, they delivered and like some of the other boys, their performances were at a very high level.
“Having said that, I don-t like singling players out too much because it really was a group effort.”
This weekend, Brisbane Roar Youth host Melbourne Victory Youth in their final home match of the 2011/12 season with Sime hoping to end their home campaign with a bang against the cellar dwellers, who have collected two points less than the AIS and linger in 10th and bottom place on the NYL table.
“We-re really looking forward to it,” Sime said.
“It-s always a tough one against the Victory but the boys are up for the challenge and looking forward to continuing their momentum in the final games of the season.”
Brisbane Roar take on Melbourne Victory at Cleveland Showgrounds on Sunday, 19 February, kicking off at 3.00pm. Adults $5, concession $2 and children under 15 are free.
