Melbourne City skipper Scott Jamieson said his side were ‘ultimately disappointed’ with the result of Sunday night’s Elimination Final in what he felt was a team that could have gone all the way.
City conceded late in extra time to knock them out of the 2019 A-League Finals Series and with a match of few chances, Jamieson and his side felt empty after the result where the visitors had chances to take it out.
“We truly had a belief that we were going to go deep into this Finals Series…that was a genuine belief,” Jamieson said.
“To have lost the way we did was even more of the knife being turned in us but it’s black and white, we’ve lost, we haven’t met the standards we set out to achieve so we’re ultimately very disappointed.
“They had their chance and we had our chances but neither side dominated so it was very tight and penalties looked like the likely outcome but unfortunately we conceded in the 119th minute.”
With at least a month to stew over their Finals exit, City will see a number of changes to its roster but Jamieson believes the future is bright at the Club with the talented crop of youngsters coming through the ranks.
“There’s obviously decisions that have to be made,” he said.
“This squad for me is obviously one of the strongest and you’d like to keep it as much as you can but obviously players have done well and will move on but I’d like to think that this is one of the strongest squads the Club has had so hopefully it can stick together and we try and move forward and fix what we didn’t do this year.
“You have Ramy (Najjarine), you have Connor (Metcalfe). Connor is someone that is going to be special.
“I never talk up players. I never talked up Daniel (Arzani) when he was here last year but for me, I rate Connor very highly and I think he has the attributes to really stamp his authority in the A-League and then push on to bigger things.
“The opportunity is there for the young boys, that’s been a real bright spark for us but these players also have to work hard and earn their spot.”
