Western Sydney Wanderers boss Tony Popovic has lamented his side’s inability to capitalise on their moments and costly mistakes, after suffering a 3-1 loss to Adelaide United at a raucous Adelaide Oval.
Defender Scott Neville had pulled one back for the visitors, following goals from Bruce Kamau and Isaias, but Pablo Sanchez netted off the bench in stoppage time to seal a maiden championship for the South Australians.
The disappointing result is now the Wanderers’ third grand final defeat in four seasons, with Popovic bemoaning his team’s lacklustre start to the clash, refusing to give Adelaide credit for the win.
“Second-half we were much better, first-half we lost the ball twice and they scored, they were just a little bit quicker to second ball, we didn’t release the ball quick enough so it didn’t enable us to play our game,” Popovic said in the post-match press conference.
“When we lost the ball we got punished and Adelaide took their chances. A free-kick from us losing the ball and the first one was us losing the ball and then cross, goal.
“We had a good chance with Santa [Brendon Santalab] at 1-0 down to go 1-1 and a couple of minutes later it goes 2-0.
“So we didn’t make the most of our moments in the first-half, we weren’t at our best that’s for sure, they pressed us very well and we got caught.”
Popovic was also critical of the Reds’ playing style, suggesting they did not outplay them, when questioned over the tactics employed and claimed Amor’s men resorted to “long balls”.
“The goals they scored were from our mistakes … So they went long we didn’t deal with the second balls,” Popovic asserted.
“It’s not like they played out, they didn’t play football, they played out forward long balls, second balls … And they dealt with it better than us.”
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