Isuzu UTE A-League Head Coach, Carl Veart, was full of praise for his squad following their remarkable 2-1 victory over Macarthur FC on Monday night. Here’s what Veart had to say to the media after the match.
Veart on the performance…
“Yeah, it was a tough game. Macarthur are a very difficult side to break down. I think we wasted some good opportunities to get some goals. We got into good areas, and our final cross or selection of pass wasn’t great. But then to go a goal down and respond from that was fantastic. The effort from the boys, to keep that belief and keep going to get those two goals, was fantastic.”
Veart on Luka Jovanović’s match-winning goal…
“Yeah, it’s excellent. It shows not just Luka but all our young boys that they are going to make mistakes, and it’s important they learn from them. They just need to keep working hard, because when you work hard, you get results. Luka, when he came on tonight, worked hard. He was chasing, putting them under pressure. Him and Ryan (White) made that turnover to get us the free kick for the second goal. So, I’m very pleased for them and very pleased for the playing group. They’ve put a lot of effort into tonight.”
Veart on the importance of winning away from home…
“Yeah, look, it’s important for the season. We’ve had a good start, but we’ve dropped some points at home, so that means we have to go get them away. Tonight was a very solid performance, and I’m very happy with the quality we showed tonight.”
Veart on lessons learned from previous games…
“Yeah, it’s tough. We said to the boys tonight that the game was going to be won with our mentality. We pushed and pushed, and even though we went behind, we kept going. That’s a tick of approval for the playing group. We’ve dropped points against Wanderers, Sydney, Perth—we’ve been in front in all those games and faded away. Tonight, even though Macarthur had more of the ball in the second half, we stood strong and got the result.”
Veart on confidence going into the rest of the season…
“Yeah, it’s important to pick up points early in the season. You can get on a run, and when you have that belief and confidence, you keep rolling win after win. That’s what we want to get on to. It’s not going to be easy, but by the end of January, we’ll have a clearer idea of where we’re heading.”
Veart on the team’s attacking principles…
“No, we haven’t really changed. The principles have stayed the same—we want to play attacking football. I think you saw that tonight. We were having a go at controlling the game. This season, we’ve brought in four or five good quality players, and they’ve added something we were missing. Maybe we got a little stale last season because we didn’t bring anyone in. But that turnaround is working for us now.”
Veart on Dylan Pierias’ impact at right-back…
“Dylan played all his youth as a right back, and then got pushed forward. When we spoke to him about coming to the club, he wanted to play as an attacking player, and that’s where we started him. But I always had in the back of my mind that he’d suit the way we want to play as an attacking right back. He’s been excellent this year. A lot of our drive and opportunities come from Dylan down that right side. He could’ve done a bit better with his touch on a couple of occasions, but that’s just him running out of energy because he gives so much. I’m very happy with him, and it’s great to see him playing with confidence.”
