Dejected Jets coach Gary van Egmond couldn’t hide his disappointment after the Jets let a one-goal lead slip to lose 2-1 to the Brisbane Roar at Ausgrid Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Jets took the match right up to the premiers with a five-man midfield to apply a high-pressing game which seemed to unsettle the Roar.
The home side profited from their pressure with a goal to Ryan Griffiths just before half-time and went close to doubling that just after the break when Kiwi international Jeremy Brockie had a clear shot on goal only to see Roar goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos pull off a great reflex save.
However the visitors hit back in the 56th minute when Henrique pounced on an errant back pass from Ruben Zadkovich and completed their comeback when substitute forward James Meyer slammed home from 12 metres following a quick corner seven minutes from full-time.
“The plan was to flood the midfield and we played a bit of a risk by going three at the back but it wasn’t a risk as far as we were concerned because they like to play the ball through the midfield and if you can overload that area then perhaps you can pick up the ball,” Van Egmond explained after the game.
“And that also helped in pressing as we had an extra man in there and it made it very difficult for them to get out. And that helped in the first goal that we scored and we created a few more opportunities from the fact that were we pressing the ball high and encouraging them to hit the ball long which is not their natural game, so the first half was good.”
“If we would have taken a few more chances, particularly the one just after the break with Jeremy, maybe that would have given us the impetus to go on with it, unfortunately it wasn’t to be.”
“I think just understanding the positioning made it difficult at times and we came to terms with it in our front third with the pressing and that created some opportunities at the other end.”
“Where we have to get better is if we press and the ball goes high and long we then have to get ourselves into position and keep possession and keep play.”
“We were probably a bit too direct for my liking but that was probably a result from the pressure Brisbane put on us and where we are as far as our fitness is concerned. That will get better.”
A major turning point in the match occurred early in the second half when in-form goalkeeper Ben Kennedy was stretchered from the field after he copped an accidentally boot to the face from Newcastle defender Tarek Elrich.
Whilst replacement Jack Duncan, who was making his Hyundai A-League debut, played admirably, the substitution forced a change in van Egmond’s tactics as he had planned to replace the tiring midfield and bolster his defence with Jacob Pepper and Taylor Regan.
“Momentum stalled there for us. But Jack Duncan did extremely well,” van Egmond, who refused to use the injury to Kennedy as an excuse, said.
“Last I heard he (Kennedy) had a fair wack on his nose and he was seeing black spots.”
Despite pushing the premiers van Egmond said that getting close enough was probably more disappointing than any loss.
“I think we should have got something out of the game but again when you play the premiers you can’t switch off for a second and unfortunately with that set piece we switched off. They are the one and two percenters that we have to ensure that we don’t do,” van Egmond said.
“With some time I will probably look at it and put it into some sort of perspective but at the end of the day it is about three points.”
“The last thing we want to do is look at it and say we did really well against the premiers and leave it at that. We have Adelaide next week so we started planning for Adelaide now. We start doing our recovery and make sure we are prepared for Adelaide next week.”
“We want to win, we want to get three points and that comes from working hard and knowing what your role is with and without the ball.”
