Western Sydney Wanderer Scott Neville has lamented a sloppy first half that he says ultimately cost his team any hope of victory in Sunday’s A-League grand final.
The Wanderers were left reeling at half time, 2-0 behind and with it all to do after the resumption of play. Bruce Kamau ghosted into the penalty box to open the scoring in the 22nd minute before Isaias put a pinpoint free kick into the top left corner.
Neville himself gave the Wanderers hope with a stunning strike shortly after the break, but it was too little, too late as Pablo Sanchez sealed the 3-1 win in front of more than 50,000 fans at Adelaide Oval.
Upon arriving back in Sydney on Monday morning, Neville was expectedly bitterly disappointed in Sunday’s result, saying the Wanderers differed away from a successful structure, leaving their mini resurgence too late.
“It (the losing feeling) is devastating, in the first half we just didn’t turn up. Everyone was so disappointed last night,” Neville said.
“To work this hard all season, come this far and not get the reward is so disappointing. It’s still fresh, the emotion hasn’t really kicked in. We’ll analyse it and we’ll move forward bigger and stronger next year.
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“Everyone was pretty quiet straight after the game, the boss had a chat to us at dinner and just said to keep our heads high … it’s just disappointing not to finish the journey the way we wanted to.
“(In) the second half we actually overran Adelaide, but in the first half, the pressure and the way they applied themselves was just too much, and for some reason we weren’t up to it early on in the game. Going two goals down early in the game, it was a bit too much to ask for coming back from that.
“We weren’t sharp enough, we didn’t play our normal game. We went away from the structure we usually so used to playing and that affected us. Then we went back to that structure … but it was too little, too late by that time.
“I’d trade it (the goal) all for a winner’s medal around my neck. We’re all disappointed we didn’t go and finish the job off.”
Sunday’s loss means Western Sydney have now suffered defeat in three A-Leaguegrand finals.
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