Steve Corica was left surprised by a contentious moment in Auckland FC’s rout at the hands of Western United, though he insisted the “damage was done before then” as he questioned his team’s mindset.
A three-goal opening half consigned the record-breaking Black Knights to their first ever A-Leagues defeat, though Hiroshi Ibusuki’s goal in the 34th minute attracted controversy in Auckland.
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Before Ibusuki scored his fourth of the season, referee Casey Reibelt seemingly interfered earlier in the build-up, having appeared to inadvertently block Auckland star Jake Brimmer as he tried to win the ball on the half-way line.
League-leading Auckland protested as boos rang out.
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“On occasions, you do see a drop-ball happen. She has blatantly affected the play and stopped a defender from being involved. Essentially that’s led to a goal,” former Wellington Phoenix defender Tom Doyle said during half time on the Sky Sport New Zealand broadcast.
“I think Auckland will feel hard done by. You could see the frustration from Steve Corica on the sideline after that goal.”
After the match, Auckland head coach Corica was asked about the incident.
“I just thought, normally when the ball hits the ref, they stop it,” he told reporters. “So if the player runs into the ref who is actually going to make a challenge, you would think that the game would stop.
“But I was wrong. Maybe I don’t know the rules.
“That was the third goal… the damage was done before then.”
Western counterpart John Aloisi added: “I can understand them being disappointed, I do accept that and understand that but if we didn’t score from that, we would’ve scored from something else because that’s how dominant we were in the first half.”
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Corica, though, was much more frustrated with Auckland’s performance on home soil.
“Disappointing. Wasn’t what we expected,” he reflected.
“The first half – it was terrible, lets face it. The boys didn’t turn up for the first half and you can’t allow a good team like that moments in games.
“We didn’t compete, we didn’t win the second ball and that’s what got us in trouble in the first place.”
Corica added: “Maybe a little bit of complacency settling in. They think they don’t have to do the basic work we expect from them.
“If you’re going to do that against a good team, they’re going to punish you.
“Last week I don’t think we were great in the first half either and it was only 1-0 at the time so we had opportunities to come back into the game. At 3-0, you don’t get opportunities.”
