Adelaide United coach Rini Coolen believed his side deserved to win following their 1-1 draw with Melbourne Heart at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night.
The Reds looked to be on top in the first half but fell behind early in the second after Melbourne defender Brendan Hamill’s long-range goal.
Adelaide found an equaliser 15 minutes from time courtesy of substitute Spase Dilevski’s rebound goal, however they could not find a winner even after Heart vice-captain Simon Colosimo was sent off.
Coolen said his team were unfortunate not to grab the three points following an inspired second-half performance that created a number of gilt-edged opportunities.
“Of course we are disappointed because we didn’t win the game, but I have to compliment to the team because the effort was great for the whole game,” Coolen said.
“They built up their confidence … and did everything they could against 10 men.”
“The chances we forced with the supporters behind us, we deserved a little bit more than we got, but we look at it in a positive way.”
“At least we have something to move on and work with because there were a lot of positive things in the game.”
Coolen admitted while the result was not what he wanted, he was happy with the response his players gave after the 7-1 thumping to Brisbane Roar last week.
“I’m happy with the way we bounced back, but of course not happy with the result because we needed to win,” Coolen said.
“We prefer to perform at a higher level, play better football and create more chances (then we did against Melbourne Heart) in the future, but we have to be realistic and make a few steps, and Friday we made a few steps.”
“A lot of things were in this game that we wanted to see, but we still have to improve and we need results for that.”
After being thrashed by Brisbane, Adelaide captain Jon McKain was one of a few players who was heavily criticised for his performance, especially after giving away the first penalty of the game with an ill-timed challenge.
But despite the turbulent week he experienced, McKain said he was impressed with the way the team performed against the Heart.
The 29-year-old said the Reds remained steady and patient in their build-ups early on, often retaining possession, in order to help build back confidence as the game wore on.
“I think we find our feet in the first half, it was a bit slower, but we have to build our confidence back,” McKain said.
“That started from short passing and controlling the ball, and although it was slow at times, we kept the ball quite well.”
“Even though they only had 10 men, we finished the game quite well, battled hard and really fought to the end.”
“If you look at the overall performance for the whole game I think we deserved a bit more.”
McKain admitted the result was disappointing but felt the Reds could use the positive performance as a platform to build on.
“The boys are very disappointed because it’s only one point and we really did want and need three … but we’ve set ourselves up now for a bit of platform as a better performance and obviously we need to move on from here,” McKain said.
“If we keep gritting our teeth and playing as well as we can, then I’m sure the confidence and results will come.”
