Newcastle Jets coach Gary van Egmond has lamented his side's inability to hold onto a 2-0 lead midway through the second half to draw 2-2 with Central Coast Mariners in a feisty F3 derby.
Newcastle Jets coach Gary van Egmond has lamented his side's inability to hold onto a 2-0 lead midway through the second half to draw 2-2 with Central Coast Mariners in a feisty F3 derby.
Fullback Scott Neville poked home for Newcastle's first goal of the season early in the second half and the Jets went 2-0 ahead thanks to a howling error from Mariners goalkeeper Justin Pasfield, who allowed a Trent Sainsbury back-pass to trickle of the goal-line.
But the with 25 minutes of play remaining the Jets allowed the Mariners to get back into the contest with Marcos Flores scoring from the spot after a Connor Chapman hand-ball before veteran Mile Sterjovski snatched the equaliser 10 minutes from full-time.
"We were pretty comfortable there and then we gave away two preventable goals, similar to the Sydney game where we gave them two goals," van Egmond said after the match.
"I thought the general play after the initial 10 or 15 minutes was quite good, (Michael) McClinchey was starting to come in on the left-hand side and overload us in the midfield so we fixed that with Neville tracking him all the way and making sure they didn't overload us there.
"Obviously they went to a 4-4-2 and we changed to a 3-4-3 which didn't allow them to overload us and we were still very comfortable - the issue came down to individual mistakes.
"But I am proud of the boys today. I thought they really fought hard today for the club and the supporters and for each other if they continue to do that, we will win more than we lose."
The Jets were dealt a body blow on the morning of the match when marquee Emile Heskey declared himself unfit to return from a pre-season knee injury, however van Egmond hopes to have the former England international back in the side for next week's away clash with Adelaide.
One of the major positives from the match was Neville's goal, the team's first in over 450 minutes of football, and the relief was palpable around the stadium.
"It has been highlighted quite a bit, but it is always nice to get on the score-sheet - and they even scored one for us as well. So that was very considerate of them," van Egmond said.
"The pleasing thing is we have put two good games back to back.
"I am pretty happy with the way we performed and I think we still can get better than what we did today - it is not so much from a playing point of view, it is more about the positioning and the decisions we have to make at critical times to ensure that we score or keep a clean sheet.
They (the Jets players) were disappointed (with the result), it was the same as last week, but that is the expectation that we have of one another, and how the game was panning out we felt we should have got more than that.
"To the Central Coast's credit, they fought hard and got something out of the game."
While the Jets coach admitted that the performance was better than their last home effort which resulted in an insipid 0-0 draw with the Perth Glory, van Egmond said his side had to be able to protect a lead.
"You've got to win games," he said.
"We have shown that we are competitive but in the end you have to ensure that you are able to close out games and take three points.
"Our performances are good but it is not just about the performance - it is about getting those three points and that is what we need to do from here on in.
"We need to ensure that when we get into positions like we did, that we close the game out."