Victory took a deserved lead through Marcos Flores in the 42nd minute, but failed to hold on for the win as Mariners forward Daniel McBreen levelled proceedings from the spot with 13 minutes to go.

Ange Postecoglou's men remain third on the ladder, seven points behind leaders Central Coast, who clawed their way back into the contest when Victory seemed in complete control.

"Everyone needs to put in and understand that things don't just happen for you, you need to make them happen," Milligan said.

"We didn't take our chances in the first half, so we needed to be strong early on in the second half and I think we let it slip a little bit.

"When you do that with great teams they always find a way to get themselves back in the game."

Milligan said there were plenty of positives to take from the match despite conceding the lead and a dominant share of possession.

"We haven't hidden it at all that it's very much a new system we're playing with a lot of new players," he said.

"I think today showed us that we've come a long way, but the second half showed us we still have a lot of learning to do.

"The ball just doesn't fall for us; we need to work for everything that we get."

Milligan said Argentine playmaker Flores was beginning to show signs of his best after netting his second goal in two matches in the absence of injured Brazilian Gui Finkler.

"We're playing a slightly different formation which has opened Flores up a little bit to get in and around the box," he added.

"Finkler was our link man and naturally I think Marcos was playing a little bit higher when we had Gui in.

"Now with a little bit of a shift in our formation as you've seen in the last two weeks he's getting the ball a little bit closer to goal than what he was previously and I'm just happy for him that he's getting himself on the scoresheet."