Melbourne Victory skipper Kevin Muscat admits he will be haunted by his penalty miss during Saturday night’s Hyundai A-League grand final loss to Sydney FC.
Melbourne Victory skipper Kevin Muscat admits he will be haunted by his penalty miss during Saturday night’s Hyundai A-League grand final loss to Sydney FC.
Muscat, the most reliable spot-kick taker in the league, had never missed a penalty during his five years in the Hyundai A-League before Saturday night although he did knock one in on the rebound once against Adelaide, early last season.
But after volunteering to take the first penalty in the shoot-out on Saturday night, after scores had been locked at 1-1 at full-time – Muscat’s shot came back off the left post to hand Sydney the early advantage.
Costa Rican import Marvin Angulo also missed his spot kick as Sydney triumphed 4-2 on penalties.
Muscat admitted he was shattered after the game with his miss.
“Obviously missing the penalty as well, I feel a little bit that we let the fans down,” he said.
“I’m sure they’ll be proud of us regardless but missing the penalty as well, I’ve scored quite a few in the last four or five years, but missing that one tonight on the big stage it’s going to be haunt me for a while.”
However Muscat was not feeling sorry for himself saying his biggest disappointment was for the fans as the bulk of the 44,000 strong crowd at Etihad Stadium went home heartbroken.
“I was positive (in taking the penalty) and I executed it well but probably too well because I hit it too well and dragged it (onto the post).”
“Like I said it’s going to haunt me for a little while but look I’ve taken the pats on the back when I’ve scored them and I’m big enough to take the criticism tonight.
Muscat said he didn’t know how Melbourne failed to win the game in normal time after Adrian Leijer’s 81st minute equaliser – from a powerful header following a quickly taken Muscat free-kick – gave the Victory all the momentum in the closing minutes after Mark Bridge’s 63rd minute header had given Sydney the lead.
“From then on in I thought we more than bossed the game, (and I don’t know) how we didn’t win the game in normal time let alone in extra time with the chances we had but it wasn’t to be.”
Melbourne missed two great chances to win the game after Leijer’s fabulous equaliser – with Leijer going close with another header before young substitute Aziz Behich failed to bundle the ball home while off balance at the far post in the 87th minute with Sydney keeper Clint Bolton stranded and the goal gaping.
Leijer agreed with Muscat that Melbourne had all the momentum at the end of the 90 minutes but couldn’t finish Sydney off before the Sky Blues regrouped in extra time as both teams struggled to create clear cut chances.
“It was a good time to score,” Leijer said of his goal.
“We had the momentum but we just couldn’t do it in the end.”
“It’s going to take a while to get over but we have a great bunch of boys here and we will be back definitely (next season).”
“Penalty shoot-outs are a crap way to lose but full credit to Sydney, they got the job done.”