Carl Veart was extremely proud of his players’ efforts after Adelaide United’s 2021/22 season ended against Melbourne City at AAMI Park Sunday.
The Reds suffered a 2-1 defeat after extra-time to bow out of the finals series following a 0-0 draw in the semi-final first leg.
A brilliant control and finish from Zach Clough fired Adelaide into a surprise lead for his first Reds goal but Marco Tilio equalised at the back post 16 minutes from time.
Jamie Maclaren then slotted the winning goal in the first-half of extra-time and Adelaide could not claw its way back.
Despite the cruel ending to its season, Veart praised his team’s endeavour, but felt his side ultimately ran out of steam in the latter stages of the game.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the boys, they gave everything tonight,” he told reporters in the post-match press coneference.
“You know, it’s been a long season. And you know, I think we just in the end just ran out of petrol.
“We had some good opportunities in the game to sort of kill it off, but that’s football.
“That’s why everyone talks about Melbourne City how threatening they are with their attack, but the people forget to mention how strong they are at the back and they don’t give you many opportunities.
“And if you don’t take those opportunities when they come, you get punished, so full credit to, to city.
“They’re a good side and we pushed them today, but we just couldn’t do enough to get over the line.”
Veart added that United lost its composure as it tried to chase the game, but could not fault the players for giving maximum effort.
“Finals football is a little bit more pressure than a normal league game and I think just at times, we didn’t take enough care with the ball,” he continued.
“And we started to sort of just veer a little bit, direct a little bit too much at times. But, you know, that’s what pressure does to you at times and as you said people forget how difficult they are.
“They don’t give you many opportunities. So look we gave everything, that’s all you can ask as a coach from your players. And they gave everything so I’m proud.
“The boys are very disappointed, they gave a lot and, we’ve got some very disappointed boys in the change room.”
