Oakleigh Cannons coach Arthur Papas has admitted that the hurt of his side’s FFA Cup Quarter-Finals exit was felt harder because of the importance the club had assigned to the competition.
Papas was charged with reviving a lacklustre Cannons outfit when he took over the mantle mid-season, with the club experiencing mixed, albeit improved results under his stewardship.
The coach acknowledged the fact that the focus was always on the Cup competition in a league season that failed to live up to its lofty expectations.
“From my point of view, we can’t be happy but we can’t feel the complete responsibility because we weren’t here from the start,” Papas said.
“I walked into a room to be honest that I’ve never encountered because my last experience at Oakleigh was something where there was an amazing dressing room, an amazing dynamic and it probably wasn’t there [this time around].
“We still had some good periods in the season as well and we prioritise, because at the end of the day, it didn’t matter where we finished [in the league], everyone else is on holiday and we were playing up until [Tuesday].
“If you want to look at just a number, then you have to look at the facts and [they are that] towards the end of the season, I made sure the [important players] didn’t get injured so they could get on the park.
“We made many amendments to the way we structure the final part of the season because the end result in the league was irrelevant. The result today is the one that hurts, and that hurts the most.
“We showed that on the day, when we have the games that are very competitive such as the FFA Cup, we’ve shown up every time and put in a great performance. It was a great performance [on Tuesday], but in the end we fell short.”
Their loss to Hume City was a bitter pill to swallow as they’d twice led courtesy of strikes to Sean Rooney and Dean Piemonte, only to see Hume force the game into extra-time, where they lost with just a few minutes left on the clock.
Papas was upset with the fashion in which they had lost the tie, but heaped praise on their Victorian opposition who fought valiantly until the final whistle.
“You have to be shattered when you lead the game twice and don’t come away with the win [especially when] with two minutes to go, in the last part of extra-time, you concede where there’s no time to get back into the game,” he said.
“If I’m fair, I thought Hume were excellent so congratulations to Hume but at the same time it’s because we took the lead twice. Every time in a game as well when you take the lead and it’s [essentially] a finals game, then you need to show a bit more courage when you’re playing.
“Full credit to Hume, they’ve had a great season, but from our side, there’s nothing to be ashamed about in losing this game. We’ve had a tough season but we’ve shown in the Cup that we match it with anyone.
“They probably just had a bit more in them in the end, but overall we can’t be disappointed because we didn’t control the game enough when we were in front.”
An injury to Adam Le Cornu forced a reshuffle in defence at a crucial time in the contest, in which they held a 2-1 lead.
“I need another 10 Matt Foschini’s because I can tell him to play any position on the park and he’ll be the outstanding player. Not only from the quality but from the character,” Papas said on his stand-in captain.
“He did a job that the team needed, but it wasn’t the ideal way to complete the game because I was happy with the way he was playing in the middle, but it was a forced change.
“We were having problems on the right side and when he came into that position, it settled but we lost something in the meantime. It’s part of having a balanced squad and at the moment we don’t.
“We don’t even have the depth to even change one defender. We have to make four changes in the line-up to change one position. That’s got more to do with how a club should look at recruitment.”
The other talking point selection wise was the inclusion of Chilean keeper Carlos Loaiza who joined the club just days after competing in a State League 1 Final with Western Suburbs.
That saw young Lajos Hun – who’d largely been backup to former captain John Honos – miss out, despite playing a large role in the back end of Oakleigh’s season.
“Lajos [Hun] throughout the week, had his issues physically. He’s a young boy, and has done tremendous for us when he has played.
“But we went with a more experienced keeper and someone who was at a much better physical level at the moment. We had a chat about that throughout the week and he was agreeing with that.”