Ola Toivonen opened the scoring against the K-League outfit, but Victory fell away as Daegu impressed with their counter-attacks.

Victory have struggled in the ACL and have only made it past the group stage once in their previous six appearances in the competition,

They turn their attention to Sanfrecce Hiroshima away next Tuesday night and Donachie admitted his boys were tired in the second-half against Daegu this week.

“Rest is the most important thing, in the second-half against Daegu, I think our boys showed we were struggling a bit,” Donachie told FTBL.

“Not to take anything away from Daegu as they were better than us. We just need to rest well, especially in Japan which’ll be a tough game again.

“The boys are hungry big-time to get something out of the ACL. We’ve got a good team to have a crack this year.

“We need a good rest and the Newcastle Jets game meant it was a quick turnaround. If we get our boys rested up and have a good trip there, we have every chance and we’ve got a squad that compete over there I think.”

Donachie added the return of captain Carl Valeri would be a boost to the squad.

The skipper was on the bench after recovering with a hamstring problem.

“We’ve had a lot of boys in and out which never helps a team with consistency,” he said.

“I think the more the boys come in and the more we play together each game, it only gets better. I have every confidence especially with our players coming in.

“Keisuke has been playing consistently now which is always good and Ola has just come back in which is a huge bonus, so I think the more we have our players, then the better we’re going to be.”

Donachie in training

Donachie knows Korean football well now after spending half a year with Jeonnam Dragons, who got relegated.

The 25-year-old has now played four Victory games since returning to AAMI Park.

“I learnt a lot over there,” Donachie said. “We got relegated in the end which is why I came home and that’s how that panned out. It was a good experience, but returning was the best option.

"It’s good football over there, it’s a hard competition and we played in a relegation battle which was pretty intense.”

But Donachie also admitted he’d like to have a stint in Japan one day.

“Anything is an option, I said to Broxy the other day it was an option,” he said. “It’s up to me on how well I play. The better you play, the more people come to watch.

"Like any footballer, you can only assess with options on the table.

“After the season we had here, I thought it was a good time to go because I accomplished what I wanted to here and that was what was on the table.

“It was time to do something different and try something in a new league which is something I really wanted to do and it was only a positive. I came back here for the six-month loan period and I’ve improved as a player which is good.”