Melbourne City FC Head Coach John van’t Schip believes either team could have pinched Tuesday night’s FFA Cup match, following his side’s exit from the knockout competition.
Two Ali Abbas penalties in the second-half of extra time sealed Sydney FC’s passage into the last 16 of the cup, with the sides unable to be separated in regular time.
van’t Schip admitted following the match ‘’that’s football” but felt things could have gone differently on another day.
“The match was close… that says enough,” van’t Schip said.
“We had a good chance to score [to make it] 2-1 but they went on the counter and they actually made it 2-1 with the penalty.”
The Dutchman was pleased with some aspects of the game but was disappointed with how his side lost possession in the second half.
“For us it’s disappointing of course after having a good start and I think coming back into the game [to then let the result go],” van’t Schip said.
“I think we dominated the first part of the second half and then gave away the second part of the second half.
“If you look at the second part of the second half, we lost too much of the ball, it’s more having the ball, losing it and then you have a game you can’t control.
“We have to be smarter and make the decisions to keep the ball longer and stay in our positions.”
Melbourne City FC’s Head Coach was pleased to see Aaron Mooy star, applauding his inch perfect free-kick to assist Nick Kalmar’s header in the 64th minute.
“Aaron played a good game, he was on the ball, he was passing, he was aggressive, he was involved in a lot of good stuff. Of course the free kick was something that he is a specialist at and it was a good header from Nicky,” he said.
“I think Damien Duff played well for the moments he was on the pitch, we know that he wasn’t fit enough for 90 minutes yet, but he showed clearly that he’s getting to a level that we all know of him.”
van’t Schip will continue pre-season preparations with Melbourne City FC as they face Hume City next Tuesday night at Broadmeadows Valley Park (Kick-off 7:30PM).
