Poletti 
Macarthur FC coach Mile Sterjovski. Photo: Poletti
Marin Jakoliš continued his strong start to the season on Friday night, scoring the lone goal in Macarthur’s 2-1 loss to the Newcastle Jets, which had plenty of post-game drama.
The winger found the back of the net in the 19th minute to score his third goal of the season, giving Macarthur a 1-0 lead, but it was not enough to secure victory following an Eli Adams brace in the second half.
Jakoliš did step up to the spot when the Bulls were awarded a penalty just before stoppage time in the second half, but Valère Germain took the ball away from Jakoliš and the penalty was subsequently saved.
Mile Sterjovski said that the side does not have a set penalty taker, but that there was no doubt who should have taken it.
“Valère’s a very reliable player. He’s the captain. There was no hesitation in who should have taken the penalty for me, and unfortunately he didn’t score,” Sterjovski said.
The game itself was one which was dominated by Macarthur in almost every stat, having more shots (18-10), shots on target (7-2), xG (2.71-0.62), passes (602-349), and possession (64 per cent-36 per cent) than the Jets.
Sterjovski believes the match is a lesson in ensuring that Macarthur take their chances when presented to them, as well as a lesson in preparation.
“I spoke to the boys last week about a good performance but let’s not get carried away with it and I felt like we were a bit complacent,” he said.
“I’ll take responsibility for that and maybe I should have prepared them a bit more mentally for this match.
“In saying that, we weren’t great, but we did create enough chances to win the match.
“[The first half] it felt like we didn’t get into the game. It felt like Newcastle were a lot hungrier than us, but in saying that I think we had one chance and we scored from it.
“We should have seen out the game in the second half.”
Following the full-time whistle, things started to get intense, with multiple spot fires flaring up as players from both sides came together following an initial confrontation between Dane Ingham and Jakoliš, with the whole situation quickly spiraling out of control.
Sterjovski said that he did not see what happened following the conclusion of the match, nor where it all started from.
“I just saw players going over, so I just tried to walk over and break it up, whatever was happening,” he said.
“There was a lot of people talking and pushing and shoving, but I don’t know where it all started.”