Central Coast coach Graham Arnold says his side’s performance in the face of major adversity against the Glory was “unbelievable”, even though they lost 1-0 in the crucial game.
Central Coast coach Graham Arnold says his side’s performance in the face of major adversity against the Glory was “unbelievable”, even though they lost 1-0 in the crucial game.
The Mariners overcame 44 hours of travelling during the week for their Asian Champions League game in China and the oppressive Perth conditions to put in a competitive performance, but lost due to a Matt Ryan howler which gifted Travis Dodd the only goal of the game.
Even though the loss left the Gosford club with just a two point lead over second placed Brisbane at the top of the table with two games left, the coach said he could not fault the performance.
Arnold, who strongly campaigned for the match to be delayed due to the 36.2 degree temperature at kick-off, said his team had performed admirably to stay in the contest in those conditions.
“I thought we, overall, probably matched them. I was very proud of the effort,” he said.
“It was an unbelievable effort by my players to do what they did out there today.”
“How do you go into a dressing room after a game, and you’ve lost a game or drawn the game, and you look at these guys who have nearly killed themselves in this heat? You can’t be critical of them. Their effort was fantastic.”
Arnold said in the wake of that travel and the draining Perth conditions, which saw the temperature remain above 30 throughout the game, meant he’d need to give his side an easy week before they host Adelaide on Saturday.
Even though the Perth game in the sixth time in their last seven Hyundai A-League outings that Central Coast have failed to win, he insisted it was not time to panic.
“We’re still in a fantastic position and we’ve still got our own destiny in our own hands,” he said.
The coach also backed young goalkeeper Ryan after his blunder, which saw him spill a routine cross into Dodd’s path.
“I haven’t seen Matty make a mistake like that in the 20 months he’s been playing,” Arnold said.
“You put that down to the fatigue side of things and the heat. He made a mistake but he’s a kid, kids make mistakes. He’ll get on with it.”
Arnold said young striker Bernie Ibini twisted his knee early against the Glory but it was too early to know the extent of the injury, even though he was likely to miss Wednesday’s Olyroos game against Iraq.
