Brisbane coach John Aloisi has hailed his team's 3-1 win over Sydney FC as the perfect response after back-to-back heavy defeats.
Aloisi's side had led the competition for almost a month when they were brought back to earth with twin 4-0 thrashings over the past fortnight that had critics questioning their title credentials.
But an impressive win in the Sydney wet on Saturday night justified Aloisi's claim that the big losses were more aberration than deterioration.
The Roar snapped a three-game winless run by putting three past a Sydney defence that hadn't conceded more than two goals just once this season.
"What I wanted from our players was a response from the last two weeks.We had a lot of possession and dominated a lot of the game in the last two weeks but didn't really do a lot with it," he said.
"So I wanted desperation in both boxes, defending and also in the final third. And we showed that. It was a great response from the players. I thought they did well."
The return of Olyroo pair Jamie Maclaren and Brandon Borrello yielded immediate dividends, with the former hitting the first and last goals of the night to lift his season tally to nine in just 13 games.
It is the equal third most in the league, behind Melbourne City sharpshooter Bruno Fornaroli and Victory talisman Besart Berisha.
"I feel that every time that he plays, he's going to score, because he gets into positions to score goals," Aloisi said.
"Can he improve? There's a lot of improvement left in him. But to get nine goals so far and (with) still a lot of football to be played, I expect Jamie to bang in some more."
The win lifts the Roar to second spot on the A-League table, just two points behind leaders Western Sydney.
The Wanderers, Sydney FC, and the two Melbourne teams have dominated trophy talks in recent weeks, but Aloisi said he wasn't concerned about his team not being in the conversation.
"Whether people talk about us, I don't look at that because people spoke about us being not that good the last couple of weeks. We know what we have to improve on," he said.
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