"We were close last week," van 't Schip said. "If you look at the five games I think we deserved the three points today.

"Not with the way we played the first half because I was absolutely not satisfied about that.

"I think the second-half was a lot better, there was a team, the lines were a lot closer to each other.

"Even though we were leading in the first half, North Queensland had four or five good chances. It was that Clint Bolton today was in absolutely fantastic form and he kept us in the game.

"In the second half we all understood the urgency of playing as a team together and that's what we did. We had some chances with Alex (Terra), (Gerald) Sibon and John Aloisi at the end.

"In the end I thought the points were deserved, but the first half was not good.

"I'm absolutely not satisfied about the first half but the second half I was. Especially about the working attitude and playing as a team."

The Dutch coach admitted it was a relief for the Heart to get their first-ever A-League three points and said it was a long time coming.

"That's what we're all working for," he said. "We're working already from a year ago, putting all this together. We'll keep on working on the things we have to do."

Van 't Schip also revealed his delight for goalscorer Nick Kalmar who has made a smooth transition from the Victorian Premier League into A-League ranks.

"He's very important for us already," he said. "He showed that today.

"He performed today for 90 minutes, he did very well, he worked very hard, he made a good goal again, so I'm very happy to have him with the squad."

Melbourne Heart's next match is away to Central Coast Mariners, who they faced in Round One.