It took a 90th-minute header from Gamba Osaka's Brazilian import Lucas to separate the teams in a pulsating match at Telstra Dome that saw Victory produce a very positive display of football.

Muscat said it was important the players took the positives out of the match and know they were up to the task of knocking off Gamba in Osaka in a fortnight and keeping their campaign alive.

"I'd back us in a couple of weeks' time, I've got no problem with that. I thought in periods of the game, we certainly got on top of them. We were playing the better football," he said.

"Now we've got the attitude of nothing to lose. I think if they were on the end of a 4-3 result here, they wouldn't be complaining too much and you'd be saying how well we've played."

Muscat admitted that Gamba Osaka had got on top late in the game, and that Lucas's goal was a result of that pressure. He said the fact the visiting team was in the middle of its season while Victory were embarking in this campaign on the off-season could have made the difference.

"I think one thing that is obvious, and don't quote me as making an excuse, it certainly obvious that we were heavily impeded in terms of not playing competitive games. That was obvious in the last 10 or 15 minutes. We basically ran out of steam," he said.

Danny Allsopp was close to a hero for the Victory, scoring twice in the match and providing the home side with a real focal point. Allsopp said the new look forward set-up, which was without injured striker Archie Thompson, worked very well.

"It certainly did work well and we had plenty of support. I didn't feel like I was up there by myself. It was much like we usually play," he said. "We missed Archie's quality a little bit."

Allsopp said the team faced an uphill battle to get back into contention for the quarter-finals, but that it just had to focus on winning every match.

"We probably have to win every game now. There's no reason why we can't do it, it's only three games. It will be hard, but stranger things have happened."