After yet another promising Hyundai A-League campaign came to an end without the Reds having any silverware to show for it, captain Travis Dodd cannot put a finger on why Adelaide United has not been able to put it all together at the crunch time of the season.
Sunday-s agonising 3-2 loss to Gold Coast was Dodd-s and the Reds- fourth unsuccessful Hyundai A-League finals series tilt. While Adelaide United has managed to reach the grand final on two of those occasions, there is still not a championship trophy in the cabinet and Dodd, who has experienced all four failed attempts, was once again left to reflect on another case of ‘so close yet so far-.
Hitting the front with 20 minutes to go and with their tails up, the Reds seemed to have arrested control from the Gold Coast, but they could not close the deal as Bruce Djite and Shane Smeltz ensured Adelaide United-s wait for a first Hyundai A-League title would continue.
“When we went 2-1 up the confidence was there and to come from 1-0 down we thought we would have been able to hold on and push for another, but I guess that-s when you-re most vulnerable when you score, and they equalised a minute later, so to concede the penalty was really disappointing,” Dodd said.
“Everybody gave everything they could last night and unfortunately it wasn-t good enough.”
“For whatever reason we can get there and there abouts but in the clutch moments we can-t hold on, so I don-t know, maybe that-s something we can look into for next season and why we-re getting to where we are but not being able to deliver at the end.”
In examining why the Reds fell short again this season, one possible reason that Dodd says can be dismissed straight away is the squad-s character. In his six seasons as a Red and his fourth as captain of the club, the 31 year old strongly refuted any doubts of the mettle in the current squad.
“We-ve shown in the past during the season that when results haven-t been going our way that we dig deep and ground out results when we probably shouldn-t have got them, so I think the character of the boys can never be called into question,” Dodd said.
Hopefully for Dodd and all Adelaide United fans, the wait for a championship will not be too long.
