Following his side’s shock 5-0 loss to Northcote City in the Preliminary Final, South Melbourne coach Chris Taylor felt the match was just a step too far for his tired squad, and even with the controversy surrounding the awarding of the second goal, admitted that Northcote were the better side on the day.
Having scraped their way into the finals, South Melbourne had done well to make it a game away from the Grand Final, and for Taylor it was that run to make the finals which has ultimately cost his side.
“I thought we just conceded too many goals. It was just too much too far. We’ve probably been playing finals for eight weeks,” Taylor said.
“I thought a few things went against us in the first half, and I thought their heads dropped obviously [with] the third goal and that was it. Game over. It’s just one of them things.
“I just don’t think we were at the races today, they probably wanted it a bit more, the season meant a lot more to them and we’ve been playing finals like I said for about eight weeks now and I just think too far too short.”
On the controversial second goal, Taylor felt aggrieved his keeper was not given the foul as Milos Lujic appeared to barge Peter Gavalas over the line, but was equally disappointed that his side couldn’t pick themselves up from it.
“If you’re doing things like that, everyone in the ground saw it. It was definitely a foul on the keeper but he’s the referee, you have to accept his decision and move on with it.,” he said.
“We didn’t react to it that well, and probably that played on bit our minds for the game. I thought that was one of the big turning points in the game but you move on from it and we never had the character to come back from it.”
Conditions after the break were far from perfect, as the wind picked up while brief showers made their way across the ground, making life tough for the South Melbourne players who already felt the game was going against them.
“We spoke about it at halftime. There’s probably more conversation about the second goal. We needed to get on with it and start playing football again, and we certainly didn’t do that,” Taylor said.
“Then the wind picked up a bit in the second half and then it kind of nullified the game a little bit. We wanted to get the ball on the deck and play with it and we didn’t do that today so no complaints, the better side won. The side that wanted it a lot more won.”
Now the season for South Melbourne has come to an end, Taylor set his sights on improving on this season’s run, adding that a few additions to the squad are required to take the next step.
“I’m very confident we can. No reason to doubt that. We got a good playing group, we need to add to it, we need a little bit more depth, there’s no reason why we can’t if we plan our preparation a bit better,” he said.
“It’s players that fit into what we want to do. It’s not a case of going out there and chasing everyone and spending big money on them. It’s a case of bringing in one or two young players that can come in and change games, a bit of depth on the bench, solidify the defence, just an all-round combination really.”
As for where the club has come since Taylor took over, there has been progress made and ultimately the season can be viewed as a relative success.
“One step away from the Grand Final and halfway through the season we were looking at finishing 9th and 10th,” he said.
“I think we’ve moved forward a bit, but we’ve still got a long way to go. Obviously today’s result was a massive setback, but we’ve come a long way and it’s just about reassessing your goals and setting up for where you want to be.
“At the end of the day we want to win things and two matches away from it is not quite good enough. We need to reassess and go forward again.”