Gary van Egmond says he was happy with his team’s performance despite their 3-2 loss to Perth Glory at on Saturday night.
Hunter Ports Newcastle Jets head coach Gary van Egmond says he was happy with his team-s performance despite their 3-2 loss to Perth Glory at nib Stadium on Saturday night.
The Jets dominated possession throughout the contest, especially in the second half and created more clear-cut goal scoring opportunities.
Van Egmond said he was happy with the way his side controlled the fixture, but was disappointed with the manner in which Perth were able to score their three goals.
“I think we controlled the mainstay of the game,” he said.
“In regards to the first half it was probably a bit more even, but even still, they didn-t put a great deal of pressure on us. They scored a goal from a set piece and another from an error from us which the capitalised on.
“The second half was really just one-way traffic, but again we concede a goal from another set piece.
“Performance wise, I-m happy with our general play, but to concede two goals from a set piece and another from our error, I-m not so happy about.”
Van Egmond said the Jets will be able to draw on a number of positives from their performance in the coming weeks.
“I think tonight was probably close to one of our best performances,” he said.
“The first half against Sydney was good, but more so tonight with the way we played the whole of the game, against that opposition and being away from home.
“I thought our decision making with our passing was a lot better and our decision making with our positioning was a lot better.
“Overall, our ball circulation, how we looked to try and penetrate against Perth was really good.
“It is about how we play. I haven-t felt as confident after a game, even though we-ve lost, about looking forward to next week and the weeks after based on that performance, so in that respect, I-m quite happy.”
The loss to the Glory meant the Jets continued their winless run in Perth, which has seen them unable notch a victory at nib Stadium since 2005.
However, van Egmond refused to blame the result on the travel factor.
“Everyone knows it-s a difficult game when you come to Perth, but tonight was the night that we should have got something out of it and we didn-t. It-s about being ruthless enough to take those opportunities.
“It-s just the mentality. You have to be ready to play. There-s nothing untoward in regards to the travel, but if you start to think about it, then it becomes more of an issue.
“Realistically it-s just another game. We get here on Thursday, play on Saturday and we have plenty of time to acclimatise.
“It was one of the rare occasions that we-ve come here and the weather is cool, so that was another positive because usually it-s quite hot here.
“From my point of view there-s no issue (with the travel). If there was an issue, Perth wouldn-t be able to travel every second week.”
Dominik Ritter sat out the match with a quadriceps strain, but van Egmond said the Swiss import will be ready to face Western Sydney Wanderers next week.
“Dominik Ritter was so close to playing tonight, but he was ruled out on Friday with a quadriceps injury. He will definitely be fine for next week,” he said
“James Brown got 75 minutes under his belt in his first game back, so we-re very happy in regards to everyone-s minutes played and where we sit injury wise.”
