Adelaide United captain Eugene Galekovic has admitted he did not expect his side’s season to come to an end so quickly after Saturday’s elimination final loss to Central Coast in Gosford.
Mariners striker Bernie Ibini sunk the Reds with the game’s only goal in the 67th minute.
The Reds’ confidence had been running high, with the club extending coach Josep Gombau’s contract days before the match.
Galekovic says a poor start to the season cost the team a second chance in the finals.
“Those first ten games, if we got better results then we probably would have been second, had a week off and had a home final. That’s the difference,” he said.
“It’s hurting. It’s going to hurt a long time. We’ve got a couple of months and it’s probably going to hurt until we get back to training.
“Next year I think we’re going to start a lot better and the results will come a lot earlier.”
The Reds will take a two-month break before starting pre-season training.
Source: ABC.