Dandenong City captain John Carroll has conceded that it was a case of two points dropped in his sides 2-2 draw with Whittlesea Ranges on Saturday afternoon.
Despite having more than their fair share of the play in the opening half, City found themselves two goals behind going into the break, after squandering some gilt-edged chances.
“I definitely think we should’ve had three points today. Pretty disappointing effort defensively and we missed too many chances,” Carroll said post-game.
“We create so many chances, you’ve got to convert them at the end of the day so it’s tough.”
Dandenong eventually made their breakthrough, albeit via the penalty spot before winger Keegan Ziada hammered home to square the game up late in the second.
Despite pushing hard, the home side couldn’t grab that last goal to complete the comeback, with Carroll admitting it wasn’t any stirring words that turned the tide for his players, rather the inspiration was drawn from their bruised pride.
“At the end of the day, like at half-time, 2-0 down, we were pretty disappointed in ourselves,” he said.
“We were embarrassed to be honest with the way we performed. I think it was just a matter of pride coming back and trying to get something out of the game and I think we could’ve gone on and won it in the end.”
The two goals that were conceded in the first half both came against the run of play, with Whittlesea showcasing their pace in abundance to catch a stagnant back four off guard not once, but twice.
The centre back was the first to admit that the goals were soft from the players perspective.
“[Getting caught on the counter] has been one of our main problems this year, controlling play and then switching off and you shouldn’t be doing that if you’re a senior player,” Carroll said.
“Not just one person, lots of people are switching off and we’re getting caught out and we’re leaking goals because of it, so it’s pretty disappointing in that aspect.”
As for next week, the captain has targeted improvement in the mental aspect of his sides game, with a lack of desire the forefront of the clubs problems.
“[Our form] is more about our commitment and our desire to win games. We’re just not there mentally or something like that.
“I wish I knew the answer to it because I think we’re a better team than what we have showed so far and definitely where we are on the ladder, we should be a lot higher in my opinion.
“Results don’t show that so you’ve got to keep trying.”