Perth Glory coach Alen Stajcic isn't getting carried away with his side's thrilling 3-2 win over Macarthur, but he hopes there will be some critics eating their words over Christmas.
Glory trailed Macarthur 2-0 at halftime on Saturday night, but goals from Salim Khelifi and Luke Ivanovic levelled the scores before David Williams struck a dramatic winner in the third minute of added time to send the home fans wild.
The result snapped Glory's five-match winless run and lifted them off the bottom of the A-League Men table.
As well as the three crucial points, striker Ivanovic scored his first goal for the club and 23-year-old midfielder Giordano Colli gave one of the best displays of his 40-match career.
Defender Jacob Muir's delivery from the back was also crucial in the win.
"We controlled the game and he was an instrumental part of that," Stajcic said of 21-year-old Muir.
"Colli was good as well. They're much maligned some of these guys, they cop a lot of criticism.
"Some of those people will have to eat their words after a performance like that."
Glory - with two wins, two draws and five losses to their name so far this season - are now five points adrift of sixth spot.
Despite the euphoria of the win over Macarthur, Stajcic said his team would quickly need to shift focus, starting with New Year's Eve's away clash at Central Coast Mariners.
"You can't sit back and say, 'all's well'. We're still towards the bottom of the ladder. It's just one win," Stajcic said.
"We're aiming for finals and to get in the finals you have to string three or four wins in a row together.
"I'm not going to get carried away and say we're world beaters at the moment.
"But what we did show (against Macarthur) was an excellent amount of resilience, we showed that motivation to keep going.
"Being on the bottom of the ladder and 2-0 down, it'd be very easy to give up. The boys showed the exact opposite of that."
Ivanovic's drought-breaking goal came in his 18th game in Glory colours.
Stajcic hopes the moment will give the 23-year-old the confidence to kick on.
"He just needs to start believing in himself a little bit more and enjoying the game, and stop putting undue undue anxiety upon his own performances," Stajcic said of Ivanovic, who spent three seasons at Sydney FC on limited minutes before a one-year stint at Brisbane.
"He's been in the A-League a long time, and when you've been in and out you find it hard to get that belief that you really belong.
"We've shown that confidence in Luke and hopefully he keeps growing as a player and as an individual.
"We'll see more quality actions from him because he's got more in the locker."
