A disappointed Kevin Muscat praised Melbourne Victory’s structure but urged his side to make the most of their opportunities after leaving Gosford with a point
A disappointed Kevin Muscat praised Melbourne Victory’s structure but urged his side to make the most of their opportunities after leaving Gosford with a point following their 0-0 draw against reigning champions Central Coast Mariners on Friday night.
Despite dominating proceedings at Bluetongue Stadium, Melbourne had to settle for a share of the spoils.
Though, the result gives Victory a share of third on the A-League table with Sydney FC and Newcastle Jets, who are in action on Saturday night.
In what was the Victorian outfit’s third draw in eight weeks, the visitors had 11 shots on goal to the home sides five and maintained 53% possession.
“I can’t fault the boys. I’m not to sitting here to be critical,” said 40 year-old Muscat.
“The boys are disappointed through there (in the dressing room) themselves.
“I thought we were exceptional tonight.”
Despite Melbourne’s inability to take full advantage in the front third, Muscat still found plenty of positives.
“I thought out structure without the ball tonight was certainly something we were striving to improve and I thought that was tremendous tonight,” he added.
“They came into that game and Connor did get in behind a couple of times, he did use his pace and did create some stuff.
“But in that last third it’s all about having that composure.
“Maybe tonight, not only Connor but himself, but in certain situations a little bit of composure (would have helped for other players.)
“From the flip side some could have pulled the trigger when in a number of positions to score ourselves when they are trying to take that extra touch or that extra pass (would have worked).”
Muscat did reserve some criticism for the officials when he disputed their assessment of a 14th-minute offside call against midfielder Mitch Nichols.
“The linesman has got it wrong and I’m not going to go into it too much,” Muscat stated emphatically about the call which seemed borderline in television replays.
“But he has got it wrong, it’s unfortunate.
“Having said that I thought we created a number of opportunities ourselves to maybe get ourselves and him (Nichols) out of jail.”
