Melbourne Victory boss Tony Popovic’s record in the Isuzu UTE A-League Grand Final now reads five appearances, five losses after his side went down 3-1 to the Central Coast Mariners in an extra-time thriller in Gosford on Friday night.
The Victory looked like they would clinch a record-equalling fifth Championship as the match headed into extra time with a 1-0 lead in their favour.
However, a 91st minute equaliser from Ryan Edmondson and another two goals in extra time saw the Mariners clinch back-to-back crowns and left Popovic on the wrong side of the Grand Final result once again.
Asked about his Grand Final record in his post-match press conference, the Victory boss was understandably raw in his response.
“Well I’m not reflecting on it now,” he said.
“You’ve brought that up for a reason. You like to bring things like that up.
“We just lost a Grand Final. How do you want me to reflect on that?
“Why do you bring it up? Why do you bring it up?”
When it was put to him that it was a ‘pertinent question’, Popovic added: “Okay, what’s behind the question? What were you trying to say? How do I feel?
“Well, five times I’ve been able to experience this seat and this emotion five times.
“What does that mean? It means I’ve lost five grand finals as a head coach. That’s what that means. It also means I’ve arrived five times in the Grand Final. So I haven’t been able to win one so far. So that’s something that I’m going to try and change.
“… I’ve experienced a lot of these and there’s probably a couple where I thought we were outplayed and shouldn’t have won, probably Central Coast and Adelaide.
“We should have won in Brisbane, should have won in Perth with Perth Glory and I felt we should have won tonight.”
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Victory filled out three entire bays in a record crowd at Industree Group Stadium, with their faithful travelling down in huge numbers for the occasion.
Unfortunately, they will now have to make the trip home empty-handed.
“Yeah, I feel for them,” Popovic said.
“You know, I’ve been to three clubs and I’ve been to three grand finals and I’ve won trophies of every club that I’ve coached in the league and these fans are special.
“They create a special atmosphere tonight.
“You know, it’s it’s a shame that we send them back on the long journey without the trophy.”
