GV Suns head coach Craig Carley was eager to take the positives out of his side’s 4-2 loss against Keilor Park - after what proved to be an otherwise thrilling spectacle on home turf.
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It has been a mixed start to the campaign for the John McEwen Reserve outfit, with an opening day defeat having been followed by two victories and two losses following the weekend’s result.
Coming into the clash in Shepparton, the Suns were looking to bounce back following a 3-1 loss away from home against the Eastern Lions.
However, Carley’s side was stunned within the first quarter of an hour, as the visitors struck an early blow in proceedings as Max Branov struck in the 11th minute.
From there, the Suns rallied as they fought themselves back into contention in the clash, eventually grabbing an equalizer in stoppage time just before the interval via Daniel Edwards.
Reflecting on what was a spirited showing before the break, Carley praised his side for demonstrating resilience during the first 45.
“I thought the boys performed relatively well, though it’s obviously disappointing to concede four at home,” he said.
“But in terms of the actual performance, I don’t think the boys failed to turn up for the game.
“I guess football is all about managing your moments.“
Despite attempting to rally his troops during half-time, the Suns manager admitted that his players were caught napping as they conceded twice in as many minutes following the break.
Individual errors ultimately proved to be the undoing of the hosts as Keilor Park’s Graham Kelly fired his team into the lead in the 51st minute.
The Irish midfielder put in a performance reminiscent of compatriot Roy Keane against the Suns and capped off a cultured showing as he found the back of the net once more in the 53rd minute.
To add to the hosts woes, the result was then put beyond any doubt as Ryouta Yanagisono made it 4-1 with less than ten to go.
The game itself was one characterized by misfortune for the Suns, who registered 22 shots on the day.
In the end, Sean Grant’s 84th minute strike came too late to inspire a comeback, instead proving to just be a mere consolation on what proved to be a frustrating outing for his side.
Giving his overall assessment of the 4-2 defeat, coach Carley was quick to highlight the positive aspects of his team’s performance - as he looks to motivate the boys ahead of their next match versus Moreland City.
“We managed to get level at half-time and I thought we were the better team [first half],” he said.
“We explained to the boys that those first ten minutes after half time were going to be an important period and unfortunately we didn’t quite turn up in that moment.
“From there we were chasing the game and it’s not as if we didn’t have chances to go on and win it.
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GV Suns' Cailyn Trask battled hard during the encounter Photo by Megan FisherImage 2 of 8
The bench looked on pensively during what was a hard-fought clash Photo by Megan FisherImage 3 of 8
GV Suns' Liam Kielty was caught in no-man’ land as the ball hit the back of the net Photo by Megan FisherImage 4 of 8
There was a carnival atmosphere down at McEwen Reserve in spite of the loss Photo by Megan FisherImage 5 of 8
GV Suns' Callum Schorah tried to engineer a fightback during the clash Photo by Megan FisherImage 6 of 8
GV Suns' Curtis Hughes worked hard on an ill-fated night for the losing side Photo by Megan FisherImage 7 of 8
GV Suns' Elijah Brooker jockeyed for the ball in this duel Photo by Megan FisherImage 8 of 8
GV Suns' Elijah Brooker was kept busy throughout what was an end-to-end game Photo by Megan Fisher“If we are going to go on and achieve what we want to this season, we can’t be conceding four in a home game - that’s seven in two games we’ve conceded, which to our standard and expectations is not good enough.”
Providing some pointers for his team as they look to bounce back at the first time of asking versus Moreland on March 20, Carley admitted that his team will need to learn from this defeat and be more clinical in front of goal moving forward.
“It’s something that we need to rectify and obviously we’ll look to do that before this weekend’s game,” he said.
“The motivation is always the same, we want to come out on the front foot and play an attacking brand of football but we also understand there’s principles we need to follow when that does happen.
“We gave away two soft goals straight away, which were avoidable with individual and collective errors in the lead up.
“To our standards, that isn’t good enough.
“We had 22 shots on goal to their 11 during the game and had numerous good chances to win it, hitting the bar twice.
“So it’s all about moments and, unfortunately, Keilor Park have taken theirs and we didn't capitalize on ours.“