Ange Postecoglou feels the Socceroos should have scored more goals against Bangladesh but admits a draining few days had taken its toll on his players.
The Socceroos cruised to a 4-0 win in Dhaka on Tuesday night thanks to a Tim Cahill hat-trick and another goal to skipper Mile Jedinak.
MATCH REPORT: Cahill the hero as Socceroos win in Dhaka
All the damage was done in the first-half before the visitors took their foot off the gas after the break.
But Postecoglou wasn’t too concerned with the second-half fadeout, pointing out the uncertainty surrounding the security situation leading into the game and the fact the team prepared in Singapore for the clash.
“Knowing what the boys have been through the last few days, both physically and mentally, we lost our focus and concentration in the second half,” he told Fox Sports.
“It became very scrappy. When that happens it’s not about goals, we just didn’t maintain our composure.
“But with everything that’s going on, the players, the staff have handled themselves impeccably and pleased we can get through unscathed.
“Overall, the unusual build up we had arriving last night, it all just took its toll. Thankfully we all got through it with nothing major happening and we got the win.”
The result caps a good week for the side, the 4-0 drubbing coming just five days after a strong 3-0 win over Kyrgyzstan in Canberra.
It was just the response Postecoglou wanted following their disappointing defeat to Jordan last month.
“I can’t fault the players in terms of the reaction to the last disappointing result and performance against Jordan,” he said.
“I thought Kyrgyzstan [performance] was excellent and I thought the first half tonight was very good. Overall it was good.
“[But] we’re nowhere near where we want to be and we’ll keep moving along until we get to be the team we want to end up as.”
Postecoglou handed young Perth Glory right-back Josh Risdon his debut against Bangladesh, after giving James Meredith his first cap against Kyrgyzstan last week.
It takes the total number of players used to 27 over the first six qualifiers as the boss looks to widen his options.
“It’s good to give them opportunities. Whether it creates depth it’s going to be up to those players and how they keep growing and developing,” he said.
"This first phase of qualifying it was important to expose as many as we can to night’s like tonight.
“We’re going to face teams that sit back, in difficult conditions, on a difficult pitch. The more we do that, certain players will grow and it will create more depth.”