Generally a 3-1 win would be received with pleased exuberance, but despite another triumph at home, there was still a sense of dissatisfaction from United captain Eugene Galekovic after the full time whistle against Wellington.
Generally a 3-1 win would be received with pleased exuberance, but despite another triumph at home, there was still a sense of dissatisfaction from United captain Eugene Galekovic after the full time whistle against Wellington.
Leading 3-0 at the break, the Reds were seemingly in cruise control against the Phoenix. However, the team from New Zealand would not go away. After having a goal disallowed in the first half, Wellington drew one back and then had the chance to make the final score a respectable 3-2 after winning a penalty at the death.
The three points may have been in their keeping, but Galekovic saw the performance as one that still left a lot to be desired and believes the Reds need to start putting their foot firmly on the throat of the opposition when they have a team on the ropes.
“The first half was good in a lot of patches, the second half we still need to improve and get that dominance over teams,” Galekovic said.
“I think we are creating and we are pretty deadly in front of goal (but) if you have a look at the second half we need to get better at it and we need to finish teams off.”
“It seemed like we were in second or third gear the whole game and we really didn-t dominate a 20 minute patch where we could have put the game to rest so I think there-s still a lot of improvement ahead of us.”
Galekovic-s comments should resonate well with Reds supporters. The fact that there is no feeling of contentment or a job well done yet by the playing group or Coach John Kosmina suggests the Reds will definitely not be resting on their laurels despite holding an eight point gap on third placed Melbourne Victory.
“I think we demand a lot from each other, we expect good things and with this game, we were 3-nil up and it was a bit of a downer at the end of the game, it was almost like we didn-t get the result because we expected to do a lot better in the second half and put Wellington away,” Galekovic said.
“I think it-s a good sign, we demand a lot from each other and we expect a lot.”
Speaking to the media swarm at the team-s recovery session at Henley Beach following the defeat of Wellington, the opportunity to hear from Galekovic could not go without bringing up that penalty save in the final minute.
Sure, the three points were already sewn up, but the noise that echoed around Hindmarsh after the dual Hyundai A-League Goalkeeper of the Year pulled off a brilliant double save from Phoenix youngster Tyler Boyd, was proof that the people in the stands that day knew they had witnessed something special.
“I knew it was the last second of the game and I just went the right way, I got it and I ended up getting the second one as well so it was pleasing,” a typically modest Galekovic recalled.
“It was a good save…it wasn-t a match winning save because we already had the game won, but it was pleasing to keep it out.”
“Usually with penalty saves you-re kind of relaxed anyway because all of the pressure is on the striker, so all of the pressure was on him, all I had to do was guess the right way and in the end I was lucky enough to get a hand on it.”
