Arthur Diles has reflected on an off day for Melbourne Victory in the Isuzu UTE A-League.
Western Sydney Wanderers, thanks to Kosta Barbarouses’ 29th-minute penalty, took all three points at AAMI Park on Saturday evening.
The Round 12 result halted Victory’s winning streak at four matches and marked their first loss since they fell to defeat at the hands of Brisbane Roar in late November.
Speaking during his post-match press conference, Diles gave his verdict on the fine margins which determined the outcome of a single-goal game.
“Definitely not the result we wanted, the performance wasn’t good enough. We just weren’t at our best. In the end, we don’t deserve to lose the match, but we probably didn’t deserve to win it either because we weren’t good enough.
“We weren’t playing at the tempo that we normally do, and weren’t penetrating enough and getting the ball forward and making runs in behind as often as we would have liked. And in the end, it was a performance that we’ll review and pick out all the good things, and definitely a lot of things that we need to work on and improve.”
Despite the outcome, there were positives to be taken from the hard-fought meeting with Western Sydney in Melbourne.
This included an A-Leagues debut for goalkeeper Jack Warshawsky, with the 21-year-old stepping up in the absence of Jack Duncan, who is observing concussion protocol.
Diles gave an update on Duncan’s situation before assessing Warshawsky’s maiden appearance for Victory, having signed during the off-season.
“He copped a collision at training the other day, and yesterday was ruled out with a concussion, so we’ll go through the protocol with him now. It was unexpected, and it was a delayed onset.
“Jack did well. He nearly saves the pen and makes a fantastic save at the end on a counterattack. Jack was great, and full credit to him for stepping in at the last minute and putting in a performance.”
Watch Diles’ full press conference below.
