Newcastle Jets coach Gary van Egmond is disappointed his side didn’t take maximum points from their trip to Perth, despite snatching a draw from the jaws of defeat.
Newcastle Jets coach Gary van Egmond is disappointed his side didn’t take maximum points from their trip to Perth, despite snatching a draw from the jaws of defeat.
The Jets were 3-2 down during the fifth minute of added time when skipper Jade North took advantage of a lapse in concentration from the Glory defence, ghosting in to slot the equaliser.
But, after two last-minute draws in the first two matches this season, van Egmond was furious with the Hyundai A-League champions’ poor ball use, decision-making and inability to convert opportunities.
“We we’re 3-2 down in injury time, and you get out with the draw, you should be feeling lucky,” van Egmond said.
“But I’m not feeling lucky at all, I’m feeling that game should have been dead and buried well and truly prior to that.”
“We should have capitalised on our opportunities and been more ruthless in front of goal.”
“But it tends to be the situation that when you’re not ruthless … and you don’t go on with it, you invite the other team back in and that’s exactly what we did.”
“To the Glory’s credit, they never stopped trying and even in the second half when they probably had a little more possession and a little more territory, we still had ample chances of killing the game off and we didn’t do it. Coupled with some really poor defensive work, that’s what you get.”
Van Egmond also refused to praise players like Jin-Hyung Song, despite the South Korean scoring and being a constant threat up front.
Instead, he said Song’s performance was symptomatic of his team’s overall malaise in this encounter.
“He does do quite well but unfortunately he takes too many touches at certain times and with that, it allows the defenders to get goalside or ball side. It sort of slows our momentum down when he should be playing one or two touches,” van Egmond said.
“I was speaking to James Holland about (that too), he’s the same, he just takes too many touches. They have to get their head up, they have to have a look around early before they receive the ball and start playing one or two touch to get players in.”
