And he paid tribute to his side’s battling qualities after watching them edge out Adelaide United in a five-goal thriller at Members Equity Stadium.

Mitchell’s charges showed plenty of character as they came from behind to claim a deserved victory that lifted them off the foot of the ladder, albeit only on goal difference.

James Robinson, Nikita Rukavytsya and Jamie Harnwell found the net for the home side to cancel out strikes from Bruce Djite and the outstanding Nathan Burns, as Glory finally gave their long-suffering fans something to shout about in their last home game of the campaign.

“Today was an important day for the club,” said a delighted Mitchell. “The fans have been coming week in week out and it was important that we got the win today.

"There was a lot of commitment from the players and plenty of desire. We kept giving silly goals away, but we came back and that was really good.”

Mitchell then revealed that he is hoping to add a more international flavour to his squad as he looks to rebuild for next season.

“Since I’ve taken over, I’ve been very happy with the commitment and the way that we’ve played," he said. "Overall, I don’t think we’re too far away.

"I’ve offered six players contracts and hopefully they’ll all sign and then I’ll have the base of a squad.

"I’ll then take my time to make sure that I add the quality needed and if that means going into the State League to take a look at a couple of players, I’ll certainly do that.

"I’ll be looking pretty much anywhere. I’ve got great contacts in Ghana from my days at Feyenoord. I know that Ajax have been there and have picked up some terrific players.

"I’ve also got people looking in Argentina, Brazil and Chile and I just have to make sure that I can do it within a budget and get good quality players in the positions that we need.”

It is looking increasingly likely that Stan Lazaridis will be a part of Mitchell’s plans for next season after another impressive display from the former Socceroo midfielder.

A tweaked hamstring did force the 35-year-old to limp from the fray just after the hour-mark, but his final contribution was to create Glory’s third for goal Jamie Harnwell and his coach was delighted with what he saw.


“Stan hurt his hamstring setting up Jamie’s goal,” said Mitchell. “He felt it straight away so it was important that we took him off immediately to make sure he didn’t do any more damage to it.

"He hasn’t torn it and we’ll just have to see how he pulls up. It may be difficult for him as we have a quick turnaround before the Newcastle game on Friday”.

Mitchell then hinted strongly that the ex-West Ham and Birmingham man will be turning out in purple once again next term.

“If Stan can continue to play like that going forward,” he said, “there’s a big chance that he’ll be with us next year. His composure on the ball was good, his crossing was good and he did plenty of tracking back too.”

Lazaridis, however, is unlikely to be joined in Perth’s new-look squad by Simon Colosimo who seems certain to complete a close-season move to Sydney FC.

Colosimo’s omission from the matchday squad created something of a pre-game stir among the Glory faithful, although Mitchell insisted that the unsettled utility man had been dropped purely for tactical reasons and again paid tribute to the professionalism of the club skipper.

“I’m not sure if Simon’s going to be here or not next season,” admitted Mitchell, “but he’s been a quality player since I’ve taken over and has done everything exceptionally well.

"It was disappointing for him a couple of weeks ago when the crowd booed him but it was great last week when they got back behind him.

"That was enough for me and I just wanted to make sure that if I have a situation where Simon isn’t here, I’ve had a look at different players in different roles.”

In sharp contrast to the upbeat and loquacious Mitchell, a grim-faced Aurelio Vidmar offered a short and blunt assessment of his side’s performance, claiming that it typified their disappointing campaign.

“Scoring two goals away from home was a positive,” said the Adelaide coach. “But we continue to concede silly goals.

"We got ourselves back into the game, as we knew we would and then conceded straight away, which was very disappointing and that’s been our Achilles’ heel all season.

"We’re the leading goalscorers in the competition, but we’ve conceded just as many, so you can see where the problem is.

"We’ve had many good opportunities to cement a place in the top four, but in the crunch games we never managed to take the next step.”

The Reds do of course still have the Asian Champions League to look forward to, but Vidmar denied that the prospect of pitting their wits against Asia’s elite had served to distract his squad from their domestic campaign.

“I don’t think that anyone has thought about the Champions League,” he said. “I thought about it for one day when the draw came out and that was about it.

"Our first game is on March 12, so it’s a while away and now we just want to do everything we can to upset Queensland next week and finish on a high.”