Newcastle Jets coach Gary van Egmond says he is disappointed but takes plenty of positives from Saturday night’s 3-2 loss to Perth Glory at nib Stadium.
Newcastle Jets coach Gary van Egmond says he is disappointed but takes plenty of positives from Saturday night’s 3-2 loss to Perth Glory at nib Stadium.
The Jets scored first through Tiago Calvano in the 10th minute, but it was Glory who led 2-1 at half-time.
Josh Mitchell equalised before Chris Harold struck the winner in the 84th minute, although van Egmond felt his side deserved a point.
“I thought we controlled the main part of the game,” he said.
“In regards to the first half, it was a little bit even, but still they didn’t put a lot of pressure. They scored a goal from a set-piece and an error from us, which they capitalised on.
“Then second half was really just one-way traffic and again from another set-piece.”
Marquee striker Emile Heskey missed several close-range opportunities throughout the game as Newcastle dominated the second half.
“You can see what he does in regards to attracting one or two other players. So not always is he going to be on the scoreboard, but at the same time he’s going to help others,” van Egmond said.
“There was times last week where we looked to play the ball forward and it was one v. five.
“It’s about the selective pass and what’s on at the right time and I thought tonight our decision making of pass was a lot better and our decision making of our position was a lot better.
“Body position and other things can start to get better from a technical point of view, but overall our ball circulation, how we looked to try and penetrate against them, I thought we were good.”
Newcastle face Western Sydney next weekend and van Egmond said the team would be bolstered by the return of Dominik Ritter and Michael Bridges for the clash.
“Dominik Ritter was so close to playing tonight, but he succumbed last night with a quadriceps injury. He will definitely be fine for next week,” he said.
“We didn’t bring Bridges because we felt he might play a 15-minute cameo here (and) from the travel, getting here, going back it’s probably better to keep him there.
“James Brown gets 75 minutes under his belt first game back.
“We’re very happy with the outcome in regards to minutes played and where we sit injury wise.”
