Melbourne City coach John van’t Schip says he is disappointed with their 2-0 loss against Adelaide United on Friday night.
City butchered their final two rounds, losing consecutively to Perth Glory and Adelaide. A win in either game meant a chance to lift the premiers plate, however, the A-League’s glamour club were broken down in both games.
The Melburnians were uncharacteristically flat and harmless going forward. Aaron Mooy and Bruno Fornaroli, who maintained good form in recent weeks, were also quiet.
“The head space is everybody’s disappointed, we all had different ideas of getting into the last two games and looking at the games we played before, we were in a good period,” Van’t Schip said.
“You have to be at the right moment, having the momentum and we had it until round 25, but not for the last two. That’s what decided it in the end because it (the league) was so close.”
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The most controversial moment came as City goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen clashed with former teammate and now Adelaide midfielder Stefan Mauk, which resulted in a converted Bruce Djite penalty.
It effectively ruined the game, placing the Reds with a comfortable 2-0 lead going into halftime and van’t Schip said he thought it was the wrong call by referee Strebre Delovski.
The Dutchman also acknowledged they did not do enough to come back.
“Just before half-time with the penalty that wasn’t a penalty because the ball was already behind. I think the referee lost control, they conceded a lot of falls,” he said.
“They were defending with a lot of numbers, but I think we didn’t get enough out of that and to be honest we didn’t create enough with our play.”
Due to the closeness of the table, it is difficult to anticipate who City may meet in the first final. Should all favourites win, Perth would be the most likely opponent.
The coach said they would now forget about an opportunity missed and focus on the bigger award.
“We have to forget about those two and prepare for the finals now. Everything is still possible, we haven’t made it easier for ourselves,” he said.
“We’ll have to see now who we will play and perform in the best possible way of course.”
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