Frustrated Newcastle Jets skipper Nigel Boogaard believes his side threw away victory in their pulsating 2-2 draw with a 10-man Perth Glory on Sunday.
The Jets overcame a shaky start to lead 2-1 at the break at McDonald Jones thanks to a penalty from Mateo Poljak and another goal to in-form Andrew Nabbout.
WRAP: Jets, Glory all square in Newcastle thriller
But a lapse in concentration early in the second half allowed Glory to equalise through Andy Keogh, with the two sides forced to share the spoils after a see-sawing 90 minutes.
“We threw away three points. The two goals were gifts for them,” Boogaard told Fox Sports.
“I’m disappointed we couldn’t come away with the result. [Slow stars] has been a problem for us all year. We can’t start like that against anyone, regardless of who it is.
“And again it’s goals and mistakes. It’s not good enough from all of us at this level.
“We worked hard to get back into the game and get in front and then we throw it away again. We have to take a look at ourselves if we’re serious of making the top six. It’s not good enough.”
While disappointed with the outcome, the Jets are certainly on the up, having lost just one of their last six matches in the Hyundai A-League.
Mark Jones has got his side into the top six and playing vibrant, confident football.
There is an expectation the Hunter club could end their seven year drought to play finals football in the 2016/17 Season.
“We’ve got confidence within the squad and we know when we execute we can beat anyone on our day,” Boogaard said.
“But when we gift teams goals like that it’s a hard way to come back to try and get the points.
“We’ll take a point form that but it’s disappointing we gifted them two goals.”
The only negative for the Jets was a booking for key attacker Andrew Hoole – his fifth of the season – meaning he’ll miss next weekend’s crucial clash with Western Sydney Wanderers.
