Gertjan Verbeek felt Adelaide United “deserved a little more” after suffering a dramatic 3-2 loss to Western Sydney Wanderers at Coopers Stadium on Friday night.
It was a game filled with drama and controversy with the VAR heavily involved in proceedings.
Al Hassan Toure scored his second Hyundai A-League goal of the season to extinguish Nicolai Muller’s 11th minute opener.
But the German added a second courtesy of another brilliant header before Mohamed Adam made it 3-1 to the visitors on 77 minutes.
The Reds were eventually awarded a penalty following a VAR intervention in stoppage time with George Blackwood pulling a goal back.
However, he would be denied a second goal and the chance to snatch a point after blazing a penalty over the bar when the VAR adjudged a handball incident involving Daniel Georgievski.
“I find that we deserved a little more,” Verbeek said to reporters in the post-match press conference.
“We lost and that’s a fact, sometimes football isn’t honest but we’re responsible – nobody else.
“Three goals (conceded) and we made only two, and we had a lot of possibilities even in the last second.”
Match report. ⤵️#AUFC #ADLvWSWhttps://t.co/znp102BY3O
— Adelaide United (@AdelaideUnited) December 27, 2019
Verbeek admitted he was pleased with some of the football his side played, relative to their recent lacklustre displays.
“I’m happy with the way we played football,” he revealed.
“Not with the result, that’s obvious, but I think we did a great job, offensively very good and defence we made not even big mistakes, but if you see the three goals we were very unlucky with the three goals.
“… If you have three chances in the whole game and score three goals then you’re winning the game mostly and they did.”
He said he could not fault his players’ attitude and mentality, but intimated it could have been a different game had they taken their earlier opportunities.
“I think we had in the first-half five or six good chances, even in the second-half a few big chances,” he said.
“We had the biggest chance just after half-time, a very big chance.
“It was a pity that Toure gave the ball not so good to Ben Halloran, but I can’t blame them, the guys now.
“The mindset was good, the attitude was good, we were the boss here, we played dominant football, we had the chances, but we lost the game – that’s the reality.”
Adelaide United face Sydney FC in Round 13 of the Hyundai A-League 2019/20 season on Saturday, 4 January at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium. Kick-off is at 7.00pm ACDT. Live and Exclusive on Fox Sports, Kayo Sports and the My Football Live App.
