They didn’t come away with a much needed victory but new Adelaide coach John Kosmina saw enough from his side to know they can move on from their horror start to the season and move up the A-League ladder.
They didn’t come away with a much needed victory but new Adelaide United coach John Kosmina saw enough from his side to know they can move on from their horror start to the season and move up the Hyundai A-League ladder.
In a week of drama and turmoil at the club, the Reds produced their most gallant performance of the season to hold in-form Sydney to a 2-2 draw at the SFS.
Adelaide twice led through goals to Daniel Mullen and Dario Vidosic but on both occasions couldn’t hold onto their lead for more than 10 minutes, before having Iain Ramsey sent off late on.
But the Reds didn’t throw in the towel late on and while stopping short of saying his side was over their woes, Kosmina liked what he saw and is confident they have taken a step in the right direction.
“Coming from the position our boys did, having been under the pump with all changes and the drama, I thought it was fantastic effort,” a delighted Kosmina said.
“If you look at last 10 minutes, with our backs to the wall, we looked hungrier than they did.”
“That’s the sort of character you need. I asked them to show some ticker and they did…it was an unbelievable effort.”
“I can’t ask for more. The last 15-20 minutes we started to get that belief back, stared to knock the ball around and feel comfortable and confident.”
“They all got stuck in, everyone got a niggle, got bitten at some stage in the game but they all got up and got on with the job.”
While delighted with his side’s performance, Kosmina was disappointed with a couple of penalty decisions that went against the Reds.
The veteran coach felt midfielder Fabian Barbiero should have been given a spot kick for a foul in the first 10 minutes, before Sydney were given one at that other end soon after when referee Jarred Gillett ruled Nigel Boogaard hauled down Bruno Cazarine.
“It’s a hard one, if it was in the EPL no one would have looked at it,” the Reds boss said of the decision against his side.
“But we give soft decisions over here.”
Boogaard said of the incident: “You see them given and you don-t.”
“I thought we were both holding on as much as each other…I had his shirt, he had mine.”
“He had his arm on my shoulder but end of day he outwitted me and they got a penalty.”
“Lucky the boys showed character and we were able to get ourselves back in the game.”
Boogaard said despite all the drama at the club in the last few days, the players were desperate to make up for their horror start to the season and he believes they are on track to make a move up the ladder.
“We were embarrassed last week with what happened at home,” he said.
“No one wants to play like that in front of their home crowd.”
“Regardless of if we were playing Kossie’s old club or not, he’s come in and asked us to be warriors and stand up individually and as a team and I think we made a step towards that tonight.”
