Oakleigh Cannons coach Arthur Papas was quick to lament a horror 10-minute spell in his sides 3-0 Dockerty Cup defeat against South Melbourne.
The spell at the beginning of the second half saw them give South a three buffer in a contest that’d been tight throughout the first 45 minutes.
“[We came apart] in the details of the game,” Papas declared post-game.
“The first 10 minutes of the second half, we discussed how to defend on the left side, where they were attacking through Bradley Norton and at the end of the day, we didn’t cover that area well enough where they score a good goal.
“Then the man marking [from a set-piece] for the second, and the third is a slip near the sideline, then the games wrapped up at 3-0. In the first half, it was very even. We had the best chance of the first half, a very good chance and the game would’ve been very different had we put that chance away.”
Lambros Honos was the man presented with that first half chance, but he was unable to steer his one-on-one opportunity against South keeper Nikola Roganovic past the custodian.
Despite the loss, and the fashion in which they succumbed to South’s heavy pressure, Papas has no qualms about his sides team unity, who he believes will remain strong despite the defeat.
“I think the team is united. It’s a team that’s had some really positive results as well. It’s a final the end of the day, and in a final, we have to show a bit more resolve, and we weren’t able to do that immediately,” he said.
“In the end, you start throwing numbers forward and there’s a chance you concede more; if it’s four or five, it’s irrelevant because you want to get back into the game.
“If you score one, and make it 3-1, it lifts the boys and it changes their game a little bit. I don’t think it’s about the unity of the group, like I said, it’s all decided in [that 10 minutes].”
The opportunities to redeem themselves come thick and fast in the next fortnight, in the form of a league and FFA Cup double-header, with Papas hoping to emulate the resilience of South Melbourne, who suffered an FFA Cup defeat in the lead up to the Dockerty Cup Final.
“Absolutely, you saw the buzz from the FFA Cup and like I said, credit to [South Melbourne] because they had a really tough Cup encounter, and they showed a lot of character to [back it up] with a Dockery Cup final four days later.
“I hope my boys can show the great character to turn around what is a disappointing day for the club and progress to the furthest we’ve been at FFA Cup level.”