Australia coach Ange Postecoglou lauded a dominant performance from his Socceroos, believing patience was the key to their 3-0 win over a plucky Tajikistan in Dushanbe on Tuesday.
The Socceroos controlled the contest from the outset and created several chances but had to wait until the second half to cash in with the goals in the World Cup qualifier.
Tim Cahill scored a brace after Mark Milligan's opener as Australia struck three times in the second half.
Speaking after the match, Postecoglou felt his side were rewarded for their dominance after failing to make things count in the first half.
"It’s a great result but I thought the performance was really good too,” Postecoglou told Fox Sports.
"We controlled the game from the start, we didn’t get our reward in the first half and we probably lacked a bit of a clinical edge.
"But I said to the boys at half-time the way we’re moving the ball, there’s no way they [Tajikistan] are going to be able to keep up.
"I thought the last half an hour we could have had a couple more. It was a real dominant performance."
Postecoglou said his players were confident that their attacking, possession-based style would eventually break teams down, especially with impact off the bench.
"We want to move the opposition around and get them chasing the ball because we know we're going to finish strong," he said.
"The beauty of it is now we have real weapons coming off the bench.Tonight we had the two Tommys [Rogic and Oar] and [Nathan] Burns came on.
"We’re not just making substitutions for the sake of it, we’re making substitutions which are going to affect the game and I think that’s really important."
The Socceroos are top of Group B with three wins from three matches, sitting two points ahead of Jordan.
