It was a match Melbourne City were expected to take all three points but a spirited performance from the hosts in front of a record crowd this season saw the shares spoiled and City Head Coach John van’t Schip was disappointed in the way his side failed to take control of the match.
City went up in the first half through the head of Tim Cahill and looked to be on the road to an important three points before a second half the visitors would rather want to forget.
Opportunities to double their lead were spurned as the Mariners hit the front within seven minutes and the Head Coach felt his side left the door ajar too much for his liking.
“I was very disappointed of course about that ending,” van’t Schip said.
“We have to expect [a tough match] every time, every opponent. I think we expected to play better but we didn’t and that’s credit to the Mariners and also that we didn’t deliver the way we played the first half.
“We controlled the game when we went 1-0 up and we didn’t continue that in the second half and we helped them into the game.
“Saying that we got one of the biggest opportunities to go 2-0 up, with Brucey Kamau going one on one but decided to cross it in instead of keep running instead of keeping on going and taking a shot. We got a corner out of that situation and they scored on the break from that corner, so instead of going 2-0 up it was 1-1.”
The result leaves City in fourth, a point behind Brisbane in third and three points behind Victory in second and van’t Schip believes turn of the year will close the chapter on 2016 as they look to pick up their first three point haul since the Westfield FFA Cup Final next Friday at home.
“We’re happy about the win in the FFA Cup [Final] but that’s gone,” he said.
“It’s part of the season but it’s looking now at what we have achieved in the last games it’s not what we’re happy about. We’ve dropped too many points.
“We’ve had four draws and a loss and we went up in almost all those games leading 1-0 except the Brisbane game. It’s not consistent and just not good enough.
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