Central Coast Mariners coach Phil Moss says two “moments of sloppiness” cost his side any chance of a win against former coach Graham Arnold on Sunday night.
The Mariners conceded twice – once from a corner and then a free-kick – in the first half as Sydney FC cruised to a 2-0 win in front of more than 17,000 fans at Allianz Stadium.
“To concede two set pieces, you just can’t afford that at this level,” Moss said afterwards.
“If you look at last two games against Wellington and Sydney we’ve conceded four goals that were so avoidable and that’s an area we need to fix.
“On the positive side I thought we played some fantastic football in patches and I think those patches are getting more frequent.
“We’re starting to play football the way we wanted to play. I thought we caused Sydney all sorts of problems particularly in the second half.”
While Sydney were worthy winners thanks to goals from Terry Antonis and Sasa Ognenovski, the Mariners certainly had their chances to get back into the contest.
They had two headers cleared off the line in the first half while Mitchell Duke missed with a header just before the break and also had a penalty saved late on.
