Coach Tony Popovic has hailed Melbourne Victory's resilience after the A-League strugglers fought back from a goal down against Wellington Phoenix to earn a 3-1 win and snap their six-game winless run.
Oskar Zawada's magnificent looping header put Wellington in front in the 13th minute but Victory responded via Bruno Fornaroli in the 32nd before Jake Brimmer's wonderful free kick put them ahead in the 54th.
Tomi Juric capitalised on a horror mix-up between Oli Sail and Finn Surman to add a third in the 90th minute at AAMI Park and seal Victory's first win since their fans' costly Melbourne derby pitch invasion.
Friday night's win relieves some pressure on Victory, who are two points adrift at the bottom of the table but remarkably just four points and goal difference outside the top six.
"Today at 1-0 down was different, I think that's testament to the players and the character that they showed in difficult circumstances, where we are on the table," Popovic told reporters.
"So that's a credit to the group.
"(It's) not that they've had enough - they've had enough for a while.
"It's their quality and it's their belief ... at 1-0 down they showed their quality and belief to come back and score three goals and showed resilience and desperation at the end, which is what you need.
"No-one does these things for you, you have to earn it and we had to earn it because we were down 1-0 at home, again. We had to chase the game, again.
"You have to earn everything you get. We earned what we got today."
Popovic pointed to veteran Leigh Broxham playing a key role after being unable to train all week with "the runs" as indicative of Victory's character.
Undoubtedly the highlight of rhe match came when Brimmer won a free kick in a central position then stepped up and curled the ball into the top corner.
"Jakey's now again at the point where he was last year where now you see a free kick and you expect that maybe it goes in," Popovic said.
Later on Friday night things got even better for Victory with French club Lyon confirming centre-back Damien Da Silva would be joining the ALM side for the remainder of the season.
Wellington, who were unbeaten in four, remain fourth after spurning a chance to leap into the top two.
"We started off the game quite well, I thought we were controlling the game with the ball," Wellington coach Ufuk Talay told reporters.
"We scored a fantastic goal and got ourselves up and then just one moment in transition where we allowed them to break and let them come back into the game.
"Then after that, to be honest, I thought we were second best at most times.
"I don't know if the boys were a little bit timid tonight - all the expectation of where we're sitting currently on the table, what's expected of the group to move forward."
