Adelaide United forward, Ben Halloran, admitted he and his Reds teammates were left relatively happy to get a point in the end against Melbourne Victory on Sunday afternoon, but with an overwhelming sense of frustration.
It was Nestory Irankunda’s rocket from 25 yards out which rescued a point for United, after the hosts dispatched a penalty following a dubious decision for it to be awarded in the first place.
Speaking to the media at Adelaide Airport on Monday morning after Halloran and his teammates returned from Victoria, the 30-year-old gave his thoughts on proceedings from Round 18.
Reflections on the game:
“It was pretty frustrating.
“Obviously, the team’s happy that we got a point in the end, and we scored a great goal with (Nestory) Irankunda at the end there.
“But I think we expected to get three points against Victory.
“I think we controlled large parts of the game.
“A few decisions kind of went against us and maybe we needed to be a bit more clinical.
“But when we’re playing against Victory, we always want to try to get three points.”
Where the result leaves us:
“If you look at the table, it’s very, very congested.
“(We’re) running out of games and it’s very, very close.
“We want to start separating ourselves from the other teams below us and pushing for that top two spot.
“We’re seven games unbeaten now.
“I think we’ve been a bit unlucky, conceding late goals, and not getting wins when we probably should have.
“And we’re probably not playing our best football at the moment, so I think that’s a good sign that we have room to improve.
“We’re still in the top two or three teams in the league.”
Nestory’s rocket:
“He’s a phenomenal talent.
“He shows it in training day in, day out, so it’s no surprise for us when he comes on the pitch and does stuff like that.
“But hats off to him.
“He’s making a massive difference for us and he’s got a big future ahead of him.”
