Tony Popovic will keep throwing his untested Socceroos in at the deep end after an unglamorous win over New Zealand proved his Australia side still have a long way to go before they are at the level he demands.

Popovic accused his team of being too "negative" in the first half of Friday's 1-0 win at GIO Stadium in Canberra that extended his unbeaten start to life as national team coach to nine matches.

It was only in the last quarter of an hour when Popovic rolled out Nestory Irankunda, Mohamed Toure and Max Balard, who scored on his debut two minutes after coming on in the 85th minute, that Australia had any real spark.

For Popovic, who left most of his top-line European-based players at home to pick an experimental side, it was proof that work needed to be done to ensure the Socceroos

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