- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
They weren’t able to break their winless streak in Thursday night’s A-League clash against Sydney, but new Adelaide coach John Kosmina saw enough from his charges to be impressed.
Kosmina was sensationally reappointed for his second spell in charge of the Reds after Rini Coolen’s dismissal last weekend following a horror start to the season that has last year’s high-flyers sitting in lowly ninth place on the ladder.
And the drama continued on the field in Kosmina’s first match at the helm – an action-packed 2-2 draw with another of his former clubs Sydney FC.
The physical encounter had everything – four goals, two penalties, eight yellow cards and a sending off – and despite taking the lead twice, the Reds remained winless for their sixth match on the trot.
But Kosmina claimed it was a “moral victory” for the club and praised his team’s courageous effort holding a strong-looking Sky Blues outfit to a draw and preventing them from climbing to second spot.
“They were (warriors),” he said.
“You can’t ask for more because that’s the base that you play your football from.
“Sydney are third and we’re second bottom. They’re a lot more experienced than we are and our blokes did well, really well. They all got stuck in.
“Everyone got a niggle, everyone got bitten at some stage in the game but they all got up and got on with the game.”
Reds defender Nigel Boogaard admitted the players were desperate to make up for their horror start to the season and the demoralising 3-0 loss to bottom-placed Gold Coast last week.
“We were embarrassed with what happened last week at home,” said Boogaard.
“No one wants to play like that in front of their home crowd.
“Regardless of if we were playing Kossie’s old club or not, he’s come in and asked us to be warriors and stand up individually and as a team and I think we made a step towards that tonight.”
Kosmina, who endured an almost three-year exile after being sacked by Sydney in February 2009, admitted “I thought my days were over, well and truly.”
“But I’m glad to be back – it’s fun, it’s exciting.
“But we had a good result this time.
“Give me a few more weeks and a few more questionable decisions and I might be a bit more cranky.”
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.