Adelaide United has already turned its focus towards the first leg of its AFC Champions League semi-final after surrendering a 3-0 lead against Central Coast Mariners at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night.
The Reds went missing in the last 30 minutes of the game and had to settle for a draw as the Mariners came storming home with their own three goals in the space of 18 minutes.
United coach Aurelio Vidmar said his team stopped closing down and marking their opposition during the ‘sloppy’ second half.
He also thought his players gave the dangerous Mile Jedinak too much space after his confidence-boosting penalty kick at the 66th minute.
But he was hopeful they’d forget about the horror conclusion to the Round 7 Hyundai A-League clash with their semi-final against Bunyodkor to be played in Adelaide on Wednesday.
“It will certainly make them re-focus very quickly I would imagine,” he said.
Captain Travis Dodd also said the team would look ahead to the midweek game after wilting in the second half.
“It’s a half an hour block of football that we let go, that we didn’t play well in and that’s something we’ll have to get over,” he said.
“We can’t mull over it for too long, we’ve got another game in four or five days so we need to pick ourselves up.”
While disappointed with the performance, Vidmar paid tribute to the Mariners’ never-say-die attitude.
“We just couldn’t keep up with the intensity in the second half, we got a bit lazy and a lot of credit goes to Central Coast for that last 30 minutes,” Vidmar said.
“They certainly know how to fight and that’s what their whole game is all about, they never give up they never lie down and we copped it.”
Dodd recognised the efforts of the opposition too.
“To be 3-0 with less than a half of football to play you should be able to close it out. They got a sniff and to their credit they didn’t give in, a lot of teams might have chucked it in at that stage.”
The 3-3 scoreline will leave a sour taste in the mouths of United supporters. But the optimists among them will be hoping the team can reproduce their first-half efforts when they tackle Bunyodkor.
Vidmar was full of praise for the team’s opening.
“The pressure was great, everything worked really well, there was a lot of good movement and we just got a little bit lazy in that last 30 minutes,” he said.
Dodd was also pleased with the players’ endeavour during the early stages.
“We worked hard in the first half, we battled in the midfield and in the back and won a lot of the 50/50 challenges,” he said.
“And that’s what we didn’t do in the second half.”
“As to why? Who knows, but we have to pick ourselves up and look forward to Wednesday now.”
