Focused Mulvey confident of finals run

Brisbane Roar boss Mike Mulvey has declared his side "ready" for finals following their crucial 3-1 win over Sydney FC at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night.

Credit: Brisbane Roar

Roar secured a shot at a third consecutive A-League championship with goals from Besart Berisha, Steven Lustica and Ivan Franjic confirming their place in fifth, and condemning Sydney to a nervous wait.

"It's not a relief, it's excitement. It's fantastic. Great news," Mulvey said of the result.

"Tonight is something they can take great credit for, the players, because they deserve it and they've earned it.

"We're focused now. We're ready."

A party night for Brisbane fans was still not without minor concern for the former Gold Coast mentor as the visitors pulled a late goal back from Alessandro Del Piero's penalty, and could have done so earlier had Seb Ryall headed home from close range.

"What we've shown is that we still have our fallibilities - we've still got our moments where we don't keep to our structure and we don't keep to our game plan, and that's when we invite opposition into the game," he said.

"To me that's a real positive, because that's something I can drive home between now and the next game."

But while Mulvey praised his side's pressure for contributing to the Sky Blues' defensive errors, Sydney coach Frank Farina was unimpressed with the visitors' generosity.

"We gift-wrapped the first two goals. They were just two horrendous mistakes, and we got punished," he said.

Farina, who led Roar between 2006 and 2009, was reluctant to lay blame for Berisha's tap-in opener squarely at Del Piero despite the star import's errant backwards pass setting Thomas Broich away.

"That was one of the mistakes. There was probably one before that," he said.

"As I said, decision making: to play the ball into that area, even if it is to Alessandro, it probably wasn't the right decision.

"It happens. It doesn't matter if it's the most experienced player or the youngest player."

Mulvey, however, was free to bask in his side's recent turnaround, one which means they will meet either Adelaide United or Melbourne Victory in the first week of finals.

"You have to keep believing. If you haven't got hope you haven't got anything," he said.

"The big thing that's returned now over the last number of weeks is focus. We're all focused. Very focused.

"That gives me great confidence."