Melbourne City goalkeeper, Dean Bouzanis, relied on "gut instinct" to pull off a crucial penalty save which denied Brisbane Roar a share of the spoils in a thrilling clash at Suncorp Stadum on Sunday night.
City went a goal down to Massimo Maccarone early in the piece but an equaliser from Marcin Budzinski and a stunning flying header from Stefan Mauk saw the visitors triumph 2-1.
With a little over 10 minutes on the clock Maccarone had a chance to restore parity from the spot but his tame effort was easily saved by the City custodian.
BOOM! Stefan Mauk netted the winning goal, taking advantage of a defensive mistake.
— Hyundai A-League (@ALeague) February 4, 2018
🎥 @FOXFOOTBALL pic.twitter.com/xL8pJz6Uuw
"I thought the boys were very solid tonight," Bouzanis told Fox Sports after a hectic end-to-end match.
"We came from behind last week against the Jets and we've come from behind again tonight.
"The resilience in this team is what we're looking for. We said there's nine matches to go in the season let's pick up as many points as we can, and tonight was a good effort from everyone."
⚽⚽⚽ @brisbaneroar and @MelbourneCity combined for 32 shots in a thrilling encounter. #ALeague #PlayFootball @HarveyNormanAU Stats: https://t.co/dGzFy3IT9t pic.twitter.com/EHg7h58GO0
— Hyundai A-League (@ALeague) February 4, 2018
The loss is Roar's seventh home defeat of the season and sees them drop out of the top six, while City move within four points of second placed Newcastle Jets.
Bouzanis praised his goalkeeper coach for preparing him for the high pressure moments.
"Jess Vanstrattan, every week he shows me penalties and set pieces and we went through it and - it's gut instinct man.'
Roar midfielder Thomas Kristensen conceded the key moment occurred in the 78th minute.
"The turning point is of course the missed penalty," he told Fox Sports.
"We had the momentum and had we scored there we had the feeling we could go on and go for the three points.
"But sometimes you miss and that's the way it is. And then it got tough...we pushed and we had some chances but at the end of the day we didn't get the points."
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