Adelaide United coach Ivan Karlovic defiant despite falling to Brisbane Roar in fourth-straight loss to open W-League season
Adelaide United has become the first club in W-League history to start a campaign with four-straight one-goal defeats. But Reds coach Ivan Karlovic is refusing to put a line through his team’s season.
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It is the first club in W-League history to start a campaign with four-straight one-goal defeats.
But Adelaide United is refusing to put a line through its season, according to coach Ivan Karlovic.
The Reds went down 3-2 to Brisbane Roar at Lions Stadium on Saturday, despite fighting back from an early two-goal deficit to level the match midway through the second half.
Matildas forward Hayley Raso’s winner seven minutes from time left the visitors pointless and rooted to the foot of the table with a third of the regular season already gone.
But a frustrated Karlovic remained defiant.
“It’s another case of the same story of the first four games,” Karlovic said.
“It’s a difficult one when you come out of games and have played well and end up with nothing.
“But we’re still very confident in our ability and what we can do.
“The girls are still upbeat because we’ve played well in every game, so there’s no reason for them to get their heads down.
“The little one per centers we get punished for and we’re just unable to take our opportunities at the moment.
“But we’ll keep pushing – there’s no one in that group that doesn’t believe.”
Adelaide went into the clash looking to turn around its worst opening to a campaign since 2014.
But it trailed 2-0 after just 12 minutes, as Indiah-Paige Riley and Raso cashed in on some lax United defending to get the hosts off to a flyer.
The Reds steadied and deservedly dragged themselves back into the contest, when teenage sensation Mary Fowler turned and fired in a precise low strike from the edge of the box.
US import Mallory Weber then squared the ledger on 76 minutes with a powerful run and clever finish from outside the area.
But as Adelaide pushed for a third late on, it was punished for switching off from an attacking corner.
A lightning Roar break ended with Natalie Tathem feeding Raso, who rounded goalkeeper Sarah Willacy and finished calmly to extend the Reds’ horror run.
“We were poor for the first 20 minutes,” Karlovic said.
“We gave a team who have got five Matildas in their starting line-up a good start and then it’s very difficult to get something out of the game.
“But I thought for the next 70 minutes we were dominant and scored two and probably should have had a couple more.
“Unfortunately we didn’t and then we got caught on the break and that was it.
“But we’re a young side, we’re learning and we’re getting better each week.”
At this stage last season, the Reds were unbeaten and eyeing a maiden finals berth.
But Karlovic, in his third campaign at the helm, ruled out rash calls ahead of next Sunday’s meeting with fourth-placed Canberra United at Marden Sports Complex.
“When you’re creating opportunities and dominating games, there’s no real need to make drastic changes.
“When you’re not and you’re struggling and you can’t get on the ball, it’s a different story.
“But the quality of training at the moment is the best I’ve seen since I’ve been at the club.
“They’re producing that on game day, it’s just unfortunate that they’re not getting the luck they deserve and getting the results they deserve.”