Listening to head coach Marko Rudan after the match, it was clear how he felt after Western Sydney Wanderers drew 1-1 with Newcastle Jets in the Isuzu UTE A-League.
“I’m really disappointed for the players because I feel we dropped two points,” Rudan told Network 10.
The third-placed Wanderers dominated for large periods of the game on Sunday but they were left with just one win in their last seven games after Oliver Bozanic cancelled out Angus Thurgate’s opener at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Western Sydney were particularly dominant in the first half. However, the Wanderers were caught cold by Thurgate and the Jets, who scored with their only shot on target in the opening period.
Rudan felt the match should have been settled at half-time.
“I thought we were fantastic in that first half,” Rudan said post-match. “Probably the best first-half performance to date away from home.
“I don’t think anyone would’ve argued if we were 3-0 ahead at half-time. But we weren’t and that’s football. We gave them one opportunity and they scored from it.
“With the ball we were great. In terms of what we’re trying to do, the movements, the passing.
We showed them up in their own venue.
“That was the only disappointing thing I said to them at half-time is we don’t deserve to be 1-0 down but we have to fight back and do exactly the same thing we did in the first half.
“Just believe the process. It was great. I’m really disappointed for the players because I feel we dropped two points. The game should’ve been done and dusted at half-time.”
Jets counterpart Arthur Papas added: “I thought they were better than us in the first half. I thought we were fortunate to go in front.
“What I see is a tremendous effort, the work rate is unbelievable.
“In the second half, we weren’t just happy to settle for a draw, we kept going forward and unfortunately we didn’t get our result today.”
The Wanderers reclaimed third spot with their fifth draw of the campaign.
Western Sydney are seven points behind league-leading Melbourne City after 13 rounds, and two adrift of Central Coast Mariners.
“I’m not entirely happy with where we sit. We should be a bit better. The standards at high at this club,” said Rudan.
“I don’t think I would be happy, or my players knowing the position we’re in at the halfway mark.
“We need to keep pushing forward, evolve and improve. We want to be that team I know we can be.”
REPORT – AAP
Western Sydney Wanderers were forced to come from behind and settle for a 1-1 Isuzu UTE A-League draw at Newcastle Jets at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday.
After going behind when Angus Thurgate put the Jets up against the run of play in the 37th minute, the Wanderers were finally able to convert their control of the ball into a goal when Oliver Bozanic equalised via a 64th-minute penalty.
Compounding the Wanderers’ rueful afternoon, skipper Marcelo limped off in the first half with a suspected hip injury.
Marko Rudan’s Western Sydney handily controlled the opening 45 minutes in Newcastle, outshooting their foes nine to two and controlling 69 per cent of possession without being able to break through for a telling blow.
They weren’t helped by constant slipping and sliding on the surface at the end of the pitch they were attacking, the result of new turf being laid after an Elton John concert at the venue earlier this month.
Brandon Borello had their best chance in the 29th minute when he skipped past James McGarry and into space, only for his subsequent effort to hit the side netting.
Beka Mikeltadze produced the Jets’ first shot in anger four minutes later and they promptly took the lead minutes out from half time when Thurgate ran into space left open by the Wanderers’ defence and was picked out with a pinpoint cross from Dane Ingham.
The Wanderers, though, were rewarded for their endeavour 20 minutes into the second half when Thurgate lunged in on Yeni N’Gbakoto to concede Bozanic’s converted penalty.
Fatigue setting in and the game becoming stretched, both sides created chances at a high volume in the final stages but neither could find a breakthrough, with Lawrence Thomas denying Jason Hoffman a Jets’ winner in the dying minutes.
