Carl Veart could not fault the effort from Adelaide United despite a 2-1 loss to Western Sydney Wanderers at Coopers Stadium on Wednesday night.
Craig Goodwin’s stunning free-kick opened the scoring inside eight minutes, but the Wanderers, who had been winless in their previous six road trips, mounted a comeback with goals in each half.
Although Veart suggested it was frustrating not to come away with something, he was impressed with the Reds’ first-half – labelling it as some of the best football they have played all season.
“The boys gave everything tonight,” Veart said to the media after the match.
“They played some really good stuff in that first-half I thought, some of our best football of the season.
“We kept knocking on the door, but we just couldn’t get the goal which is unfortunate, it happens sometimes in football, but happy with the way we went about it tonight.”
The result ended United’s three-match winning streak and meant the Reds have still not beaten Western Sydney at home since November 2017.
The boss acknowledged Western Sydney defended compactly especially in the second-half, but expected that will change on Sunday when the pair meet again.
“They got a lot of numbers in and around the box in the second-half, so it made it difficult for us to get clear chances,” he said.
“Even though we didn’t manage to get a few clear ones, but they made it difficult for us and came here with a game plan to make it difficult and defend a little bit deeper by the looks of it.
“Now we go there and they’re at home, so you’d think they would have to come out a little bit more than what they did tonight.”
Irrespective of the disappointment, Veart remained philosophical about the defeat, insisting the team will analyse areas for improvement and go again, only this time away from home.
“We’ll reassess tomorrow, the players will have to have recovery and have a look where we could’ve done a little bit better tonight,” he said.
“Where we defensively maybe have done a little bit better on a few occasions as well, so we’ll have a look, reassess, freshen the boys up and go there expecting to get the three points.”
