SOCCEROOS skipper Lucas Neill has paid enormous respect to vanquished opponent Thailand in the wake of the decisive win in Bangkok, claiming it deserves to join Australia in qualifying for the next round of the World Cup campaign.

A late Brett Holman goal against the run of play earned the Socceroos a crucial win, which coach Holger Osieck later described as ''hard fought'', but refused to concede contained an element of good fortune. For long periods, particularly in the first half, the home team outpassed and outplayed the Socceroos, but as was the case in Brisbane in the opening match of the campaign two months ago, Thailand was left empty-handed.

Lucas Neill. Credit:Getty Images

The Socceroos, by contrast, have secured top spot in the group with a game to spare.

Yet while the Thais - and most of the 22,000 fans who created a vibrant atmosphere at the Supachalasai Stadium - were downcast and frustrated at the final whistle, their mood changed a few hours later when news filtered through that Oman had held Saudi Arabia to a scoreless draw in Riyadh. That result leaves all three teams still fighting for the second qualifying place, and Neill wants to do the Thais a favour by winning what amounts to a dead rubber for the Socceroos against the Saudis in the final group match in Melbourne next February. ''They're [Thailand] a team I feel deserve to come through to the next round with us,'' he said. ''They're the hardest team we've played, so we'll have to do them a favour and beat Saudi.''

Certainly, the consensus in the Socceroos dressing room is that the quality of a Thailand team, comprised entirely of home-based players, needs to be recognised. ''It was a great game, actually, to play in,'' said Neill. ''They made it extremely hard for us, but we'll definitely take it, and we're happy to go through. Yeah, there were definitely a few alarm bells, and had they scored first, I think they would have gone on to win. But the first goal proved crucial. There were no surprises for us, they're a good team, and we knew they were capable after the last time we played them.''

Six of the 10 teams who will progress have been decided - Japan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Iraq and Jordan will join Australia in the next phase - and while Neill concedes the quality will rise, he is confident the character in the dressing room will carry the Socceroos through to Brazil.

''We do need to get back to playing the way we did against Oman [in Sydney] and Malaysia [in Canberra], even though Malaysia was a friendly,'' he said. ''But this was a good performance. It was a hard game, a hard game to judge from the sideline. We just had to grind it out.''