Embarrassed Central Coast coach Lawrie McKinna labelled his side’s 5-0 Asian Champions League thrashing by a red-hot Kawasaki Frontale as the darkest moment of his long and distinguished coaching career.
Kawasaki maintained its grip on top spot in Group H following a classic display of fluent and thoughtful football against the outclassed Mariners before 9419 fans at Bluetongue Stadium on Wednesday night.
DPR Korean international Jong Tae-Se found the back of the net after eight minutes, Hiroyuki Taniguchi doubled the lead at the 22-minute mark and Juninho made it three after 37 minutes.
Skipper Nakamura Kengo blasted home a fourth goal early in the second half before substitute Renatinho completed the rout with a fifth after 70 minutes.
McKinna labelled it the bleakest day in his club’s five-year history and the worst performance by one of his team since he began coaching in the mid-90s.
He admitted the heavy home defeat had brought shame on him and the players.
“I hope they (the players) are embarrassed – I’m embarrassed – that’s the worst result of my coaching career,” a despondent McKinna said after the match.
“I will take responsibility but each individual player has to look at themselves and evaluate themselves.”
“The boys are embarrassed. It’s embarrassing for the club and it’s embarrassing for ourselves.”
While McKinna was scathing in his assessment of the Mariners, he had nothing but praise for the visitors.
“They are probably one of the best teams we’ve played. The movement and timing was outstanding,” McKinna declared.
“They were a far superior team to us. They cut us open and it could have been more than five).”
“They are probably one of the best teams (I’ve coached against).”
“Our performance was poor but their movement, discipline and passing was very good.”
“They had all the ingredients.”
Kawasaki coach Takashi Sekizuka arrived in Australia expecting an extremely tough match and was stunned by the final result.
The win leaves the Japanese club in control of Group H on seven points after three games, with the Mariners left behind on two points.
“This was very different to what I expected,” Sekizuka said through a translator.
“My team was able to defuse the strong points of the Mariners and were able to use our skills to our best advantage.”
The two teams meet again in Japan on April 21, with McKinna calling on his players to regain some respect after Wednesday night’s mauling.
“We’ve got a long list of things to improve on if the game is going to be tighter over there,” he said.
