Cairlea FC coach Riccardo Marchioli has staunchly defended his players while scrutinising the performance of match officials following his side’s 5-0 defeat to Boroondara.
Trailing 2-0 with less than 10 minutes of regulation time remaining, and conjuring up enough chances in attack to launch a possible comeback, Marchioli’s team then capitulated to concede another three late goals.
The Cairnlea coach believed the score did not reflect the balance of play, and was overall happy with his players’ willingness to follow instructions and work on a game plan.
“We were trying to play our own game, we had something to work on,” Marchioli said.
“In the past weeks we’ve struggled with goal kicks because our goalkeeper can’t take them all, so we actually worked on playing out from the back and I thought we did that very well.”
“We played out quite well, and we wanted to make sure our defensive structure was good, and it was, up until the final ten minutes where there were some reshuffles that were out of our hands.
“It sounds strange after losing 5-0, but by our count we actually had more shots than the opposition.”
Despite starting the game brightly by pressing high and earning a number of corner kicks, a 14th minute slip up in defence saw Boroondara’s Ellen Turner pounce and score, which undid the home side’s good work and forced them on the back foot.
Marchioli conceded that mistakes were a natural part of the learning curve when trying to implement a particular game style.
“That’s part and parcel of having a relatively inexperienced team and I said that to the girls, that playing the way we’re trying to play, mistakes can happen and it’s important to continue playing,” he said.
“I’ll never berate them for doing something that I asked them to do – naturally, mistakes happen and that’s a chance to learn.”
However, the Cairnlea mentor, who at 23-years-old is one of the Australia’s youngest AFC B Licence holders, was at his most vocal when assessing the role of match officials throughout the contest, believing there needed to be more a open performance review process following what he believed to be a string of contentious matches in recent weeks.
“As I said to the girls there was a number of factors that contributed to the capitulation,” he said.
“It’s one thing when you’re battling with 11 players, but [another] when you’re battling with 12.
“Theres no glaring issue, it’s one that’s gone on week after week, and boiled on and on.
“It’s little decisions here and there. The players are on review by their coaches, and coaches are under review by people above them at the club, and I think the people in the centre of the pitch should be under review [as well].
“There needs to be a transparent review process, and somebody needs to be there to make sure they’re doing the job properly, just like we are, and the players are.”
10th placed Cairnlea FC travels to Kingston Heath to play Sandringham on Monday.