Tehran - IRAN national coach Branko Ivankovic praised his youngsters after Iran delivered a staunch performance at DPR Korea to win 3-1.

 An Ali Karimi (pictured on left) brace after the break may have been the main talking point of the match but for Ivankovic, the players’ experience of playing away at DPR Korea will put the team in good stead as they aim to qualify out of Group D.

"Overall, my players did what they were asked to do," said the Croatian coach who led the Asian Games side to gold medal in Busan last year.

"Of course I won’t deny that we had some difficulties in the second half but that was because we were playing with a young team. In fact we were benefiting from five players from our youth team which I think they played a big part in our victory.

"Although most of them had enough international experience, they lacked physical strength. I think that was the reason why Korea was allowed to put pressure on our defense while we were up 1-0 and 2-1 later on."

Iran are currently leading Group D only on goal difference ahead of Jordan, a statistic that will impose numerous connotations to the final standings as Lebanon remain in third with three games remaining.

Ivankovic said problems remained to be resolved in his back-line but is adamant the team’s confidence, both tactically and on an individual front, can carry the team through to China next year.

"I can't deny the fact that we have many weaknesses in our defense. Korea scored from a childish mistake (from us) and I blame it on our defenders. We should not forget that Korea wasn’t able to produce more than two chances on our goal while they had 10 scoring opportunities against Lebanon