Nick Green labelled it a “missed opportunity” but the interim Brisbane Roar head coach is not throwing in the towel when it comes to the club’s Isuzu UTE A-League finals hopes.
The Roar suffered a 3-2 defeat against Macarthur FC on the back of Jake McGing’s 95th-minute winner at Campbelltown Stadium on Sunday.
Brisbane had overturned a two-goal deficit thanks to Jay O’Shea’s stunner and Jez Lofthouse’s first goal in the A-League Men with nine minutes of regulation remaining.
The 10-man Roar – who had Jordan Courtney-Perkins late in the second half – are seven points adrift of the finals spots and face league leaders Melbourne City next up, but Green is refusing to give up hope.
“It’s a missed opportunity,” he said post-match.
“At 2-0 down to fight back we had to fight our back into the game.
“In the last 10 minutes we were in the ascendancy, I thought the winner would come from us but that (the send-off) gave them a lift and we’ve got to be a bit more professional and wiser to see that game out.
“There’s 21 points to play for, we had some disappointment today but it’s all to play for.”
Macarthur had looked good value for their lead on Sunday with goals courtesy of Bachana Arabuli and right-back Matt Millar in either half.
After a two-minute salvo from O’Shea and Lofthouse looked to have secured a point for the Roar with less than 10 minutes left.
But when Courtney-Perkins was shown his second yellow card in added time, the game took a twist in Macarthur’s favour.
McGing slipped into the box unmarked and was able to head in an Ivan Vujica cross which moved the Bulls within one win of the top six.
“To go 2-0 up I thought we’d finish it off, but credit to Brisbane they came back into the game,” Sterjovski said. “We showed resilience once again and we worked hard to get the result.
“We’re still connected (to the finals spot). The message to the boys is always the same, it’s about how much we want it.
“The goal for us hasn’t changed all season, we want to finish in the top six and that’s what we’re working towards.”
Arabuli opened the scoring for his side in the 15th minute, the Georgian forward registering his first goal since Christmas Eve after struggling to adjust to life in Australia.
“He had a great week in training and we want more from him,” Sterjovski said.
