Melbourne boss Kevin Muscat revealed his bitter disappointment in his side’s defensive performance as the Victory threw away a chance to extend it’s home record to six wins in a row to start the season.
Despite keeping their unbeaten run to start to the season intact, the draw ensured they lost ground on ladder leaders Perth Glory, and the coach pointed at the lax defensive effort.
“When we sit back and watch that [game] again, we’ll be more disappointed than we were on [Saturday night],” Muscat said.
“You score three goals at home you normally expect to win, but unfortunately there were some cheap goals from our perspective.”
Archie Thompson was the standout performer for the Victory on the night, scoring a hat-trick to earn his side a point and his manager was pleased with the impact the veteran had.
“Archie took his goals brilliantly and we know he’s got that in him,” he said.
“There was some good play and it’s why it’s even more disappointing we made the game an end to end thing, we didn’t seem to be in control – we could’ve defended better tonight, it’s disappointing.”
The referees were again in the gun with Muscat questioning crucial decision that lead to two of Sydney’s goals.
“It did appear [to go out]. I haven’t seen any replays, I might be proved wrong, but from where I was standing it looked like the ball was out,” the Victory coach said in reference to the Sky Blues’ third goal.
Muscat also weighed into the debate surrounding the first half collision between Terry Antonis and Mark Milligan which saw the former depart the field with blood streaming from his head after a stray elbow from the Victory captain.
‘I’d love to comment, but from where I was, they’re running towards each other, Milligan’s got his eyes on the ball because he ends up heading it and the referee’s five-yards away.
“I dare say the referee’s seen it and he dealt with it in the manor he thought appropriate,” Muscat said.
Defender Daniel Georgievski is set to miss two weeks with an ankle injury, Muscat revealed, after he was a late withdrawal from last night’s game.