Adelaide United coach Rini Coolen says that his team ‘deserved’ all three points after their 2-1 win over Gold Coast United at Hindmarsh last night in which star forward Sergio van Dijk was injured.
The win is United’s first since defeating Melbourne Victory 1-0 in Round Two and means the Reds leap-frog Gold Coast on the ladder, momentarily moving into 6th spot.
Coolen said he was proud of his team’s efforts over the past month as they attempted to bounce back from a series of disappointing results.
“I’m very happy with the three points, that’s what we needed. I was especially happy with the boys with how hard they’ve worked in the past weeks and I think it was a deserved win,” he said.
“Of course we prefer still to play better, but it’s a step in the right direction, working so hard as a team, getting the points that we needed and that’s what we need to build up our confidence.”
Coolen is facing the possibility of losing star striker Sergio van Dijk for an extended period after he was struck down in the first half with a leg injury.
The Dutchman was forced to bring Andy Slory into the game in the 35th minute but feels his team responded well to the loss of last year’s Hyundai A-League Golden Boot winner.
“We brought Andy in who’s a different type of player but we still didn’t have to change our way of playing. It was a disappointing moment for our team [van Dijk’s injury] but everybody picked it up very well and we moved on and we created chances and kept our shape,” Coolen said.
United’s defensive stocks could be bolstered next week with the return of Milan Susak, but Coolen might be hard pressed to find a spot for him after the efforts of Nigel Boogaard.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t use Milan today, he’s more than likely fit for next week but I think Boogaard was outstanding, but that’s not a surprise really because he’s a very good player, we need him and we’re very happy that he’s back,” Coolen said.
Boogaard looked assured in the heart of Adelaide’s defence, being paired with skipper Jon McKain, despite it being his first competitive A-League fixture since last year’s finals series.
United ‘keeper Eugene Galekovic was pleased to have held off a late Gold Coast surge but felt there were more significant areas to focus on than his late-game heroics.
“More importantly we won the game, credit to the boys our defence was very good, very solid and our midfield worked all day and we probably deserved the three points, but we know we can get better and next week is another big game,” Galekovic said.
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