It was not a game that will feature prolifically on the highlight reel but Reds Coach John Kosmina is taking the glass half full outlook after Saturday’s scoreless draw with Newcastle.
It was not a game that will feature prolifically on the weekend-s highlight reel, but Reds Coach John Kosmina is taking the glass half full outlook after Saturday-s scoreless draw with Newcastle.
The Reds and Jets fought out just the third nil-all draw in the Hyundai A-League this season in a match that was not completely desolate of goal scoring chances, the stats sheet indicating a combined 10 shots on target throughout the 90 minutes.
In what were testing conditions for both players and spectators alike, Kosmina said the result could have been taken two ways but when it comes down to it he preferred to idetnify the good from the game.
“It was hot, it was windy…you could say we could be happy with a point coming back from a place like Newcastle against a team that are struggling and desperate and are not a bad side and are maybe unlucky to be in the position they-re in given the way they-ve played the last few weeks…but then you-ve got to say do we set our standards higher and say we could have knocked them off in the first half hour but didn-t and maybe we threw away two points,” Kosmina said.
“You-ve got to give them (Newcastle) credit. Every team is going to have some moments when they-re going to get on top of you in a game and it-s how you deal with it, and I think we dealt with it quite well, so you look at the positive aspect of it and say they-re a good side and maybe a point out of there isn-t too bad.”
The Reds returned home after failing to find the back of the net for only the second time this season, their festive period of four games in 16 days producing a win, a draw and two losses.
Knowing full well the Summer of Football schedule was demanding on all of the clubs, Kosmina understands it is a testing time but knows it comes with the territory.
“That was our third game in 11 days and that-s a hell of an ask from the players when you think about it when you look at the conditions we-re playing in…but that-s just part and parcel of professional football,” Kosmina said.
“You go to other leagues around the world and this time of the year there is always a bit of a log jam of games, so you-ve just got to get used to it, they-re full time footballers and there-s a heavy workload required.”
“We didn-t hit a wall at 30 minutes (against Newcastle) but we dropped off the intensity and maybe that-s an accumulation of the last few weeks of hard work.”
United-s squad can now welcome back some sort of normality as they gear up for their one and only home game in January, against Perth Glory on Friday night. Now past the half way mark of the season, the run in towards the finals is about to well and truly heat up, Kosmina believing it is the tightest competition in years and is still wide open.
“This competition is close, it-s the closest it-s ever been and the quality right across the ten clubs is a lot higher than it has been in the past, so if you-re going to take form into the finals you-ve got every chance of winning it,” Kosmina said.
The Reds boss also touched on the continued speculation around Sergio van Dijk-s Adelaide United future. It is no secret that the Red-s leading scorer of the past two seasons has signalled an interest on a move to play in Indonesia in order to be closer to his family, including his partner and young son.
Van Dijk-s current contract is set to conclude at the end of March and while he has only made three appearances this season, Kosmina refuses to declare the striker has played his last game for the club.
“Serge needs to get some clear direction on what he wants to do for his own future, and we-ll get some clear direction on where he goes as an Adelaide United player as well,” Kosmina said.
“Serge has got to make a decision on what he really wants to do and then put his heart and soul into what he wants to do.”
