Humbled Perth Glory coach Kenny Lowe admitted he had no option but to take his hat off to a sparkling Adelaide United outfit following Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Coopers Stadium on Sunday, which emphatically ended Perth’s unbeaten start to the Hyundai A-League season.
The Reds’ foreign legion had a field day against the visitors, who were well below their best, conceding goals to Sergio Cirio and Awer Mabil and at times seemingly awestruck by the sublime playmaking and ball retention of Marcelo Carrusca and Isaias.
Lowe paid full credit to the opposition and was particularly effusive in his praise of United’s ‘very, very good’ imports.
“Sometimes you have to take your hat off to the opposition and not criticise yourself,” Lowe said.
“They (Adelaide) were good value. They’ve got some very good players.
“They’re very structured in the way they play.
“People accept the ball all over the park under pressure.
“When they get it under pressure, they can deal with it in tight areas.
“They’ve been together a year-and-a-half and have got structures in place.
“Their foreign players are very, very good. They suit the way they play and (they’re) quite pleasing on the eye.”
While rightly crediting Adelaide, Lowe was frustrated that a pair of errors by Scott Jamieson and Youssouf Hersi respectively, resulted in two goals, which sealed the result.
The English-born manager believed Glory were still a chance at 1-0 down at half-time, particularly with the Reds coming off a five-day break from FFA Cup duties in Sydney, but it wasn’t to be.
“They deserved the win, (but) I thought we contributed to both their goals though,” Lowe said.
“Both goals were by errors we made.
“That’s football and how it works.
“I thought at 1-0 we were in it in the second half.
“We weren’t on top but we had a bit of a sniff there.
“They managed to sneak the second and then that all evaporated.”
