Melbourne Victory coach Jim Magilton has accused his side of showing footballing naivety after they again let an advantage slip, this time a two-goal lead, in a 2-2 draw against Sydney FC on Thursday.
Melbourne Victory coach Jim Magilton has accused his side of showing footballing naivety after they again let an advantage slip, this time a two-goal lead, in a 2-2 draw against Sydney FC on Thursday.
Victory looked in control of the game when they scored two goals in the final minutes of the first half at AAMI Park, but allowed Sydney back into the contest when Ante Covic spilled a shot for Bruno Cazarine to score 10 minutes into the second half and then copped a late equaliser through Sebastian Ryall.
Magilton, who also used the word “naive” to describe Harry Kewell’s diving admission this week, said his side, who have yet to win a second half all season, were caught out by lack of confidence.
“We probably deserve to win the game I think. Credit to Sydney, they kept going and kept pushing, but it was it was a little bit of naivety on our part,” he said.
“It was football naivety. We had opportunities to kill the game. We had opportunities to keep the ball.”
“Our incapacity to keep the ball at crucial times is driving me nuts so we just have to keep believing what we do, and how we go about our business day to day.”
Magilton had no concerns over his players’ endeavour, but that the stats don’t lie and football was a business of outcomes.
“We haven’t won a second half all season, that’s a damning statistic,” he said.
“It’s a confidence thing. It would have been nice to win a game ugly. In the end it was a case of backs to the wall.”
“But they’ve shown me that they certainly have it within them to play attractive football, to play a winning brand of football. To be able to take on all the instructions and carry them out to a tee.”
“It was important for the fans to see that these lads actually care and they did and they responded very well.”
Magilton said he was particularly impressed by the debut of defender Mark Milligan, and felt he was set to make a considerable impression on the club.
“Mark will bring a different feeling within the dressing room. Not to have played for month and to produce that. I thought he was outstanding today and that’s the type of people we want in the club,” he said.
“That’s why we brought him in. He came highly recommended by Kevin Muscat who was singing his praises and since he has been around, I’ve noticed the composure he can bring. It’s important that we do have that sort of composure if I want to be able to implement the game plan I want. “
