The two-time reigning A-League champions were comfortably the better side in virtually every facet of play throughout the match but were forced to wait patiently until substitute Ben Halloran's goal in the 81st minute to finally secure the points and jump back into the top six.

Roar could – and should – have won by more but Mulvey was happy with the result.

"It's well documented we're not happy with where we are on the table and we're trying to do something about it," Mulvey said. "It's the business end of the season.

"We've been working very hard and I think you've seen some of the fruits of our labour today. We created chances … the only thing missing was the killer instinct.

"It was probably as dominant a 1-0 win as I've been involved in for a while."

With Adelaide glovesman Eugene Galekovic pulling off some fine stops, the woodwork intervened more often than usual and Besart Berisha uncharacteristically missed a second-half penalty,

Mulvey could have been forgiven for thinking it just wouldn't be Brisbane's day, but during the half-time break he implored his charges to remain patient and felt that their time would come.

It did, nine minutes from full-time when Halloran pushed one past Galekovic after receiving the wide pass from Berisha.

"If you keep knocking at the door, something's going to happen for you," Mulvey said. "It took us a long time.

"As we said at half-time, if it takes us until the 95th minute, let's just keep playing the way we're playing. We could have easily been a couple of goals up at half-time.

"I thought it was the best 90 minutes we've played since I joined the club."