North Queensland Fury coach Franz Straka was left speechless after his side was humiliated 8-1 by Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night.
Straka extended his apologies to the Fury fans for what he called a ‘disastrous’ performance from the embattled club, admitting in his time as a professional player and coach he had never endured such a heavy defeat.
After the Reds took the lead inside the opening five minutes, the Fury stepped up and controlled the game and almost stole an equaliser through David Williams, before United put their foot down to lead 4-0 at the break.
This was not lost on the Czech coach, who conceded there was a gulf in quality between the two sides.
“I apologise to the Fury fans for the disaster,” he said.
“I’ve never lost a game 8-1. The first 30 minutes in the first half it wasn’t bad. But then I can’t believe what we did on the field. So many mistakes, so many individual mistakes. There was a bit of difference between the teams – quality, challenges, tackling.”
Williams was less delicate about the thrashing, labelling the defeat as humiliating and embarrassing and admitted the Fury were demoralised by half-time.
“If Franz can’t say it, I will say it. It was very embarrassing,” he said.
“It was humiliating. It was something I’ve never been through. I’ve never lost like that before. To stand out there for 90 minutes was tough.”
“What do you say to the boys after the fourth goal or the fifth goal? There comes a time where you can’t say keep going or keep your head up.”
Williams acknowledged the uncertainty over the Fury’s future was now a telling factor after a promising start to the campaign.
“There’s a lot of things going on around the team and around the club and it’s obviously playing a part,” he said.
“You can see at the start of the season when we thought we were there we were doing well. And now when we’re not there, or when we know we might not be there it’s a totally different story.”
Williams remains the only Fury player contracted beyond this season and admitted with the fate of the club still unclear, so is his future.
While his team-mates are playing for their careers and the hope of securing a contract elsewhere, Williams must wait until the outcome of Townsville-based club is decided.
“Some players have got contracts elsewhere, but the majority of players don’t,” he said.
“My position is a bit different to them. I still have a contract but I’ve got no team-mates. I’ve got next year to go and I’m the only one signed. I can’t do it all on my own.”
