Alfred Schreuder: “Happy with our progress"

“I think we saw a great match from both sides", started the coach. "It is a pity of course that we played in an empty stadium because this would have been a wonderful game for the fans. That is also one of the reasons why you play soccer. If I look at my own team, I think we played a very good first half. We created many chances and should have scored more before halftime. I think everyone saw we tried to play dominantly. It was often looking good. Standard defended strongly and gave few space away. However, we sometimes discovered some space. Our defensive positioning was not always good. As a result, they could create danger on the counterattack. I talked about that at halftime and that was better in the second half. Unfortunately, they took the lead again. That ball may never be played in the back of our central defenders. It is a free cross pass from the right wing and you could easily notice the intention of that guy. We should have prevented him from playing the ball over there. Our focus wasn't good enough on that particular moment. I think my team responded well and went looking for the equalizer. Anything could still happen after that red card. Standard could still have won the match but we also got the chance to take the three points home via Charles. All in all I am very happy with our progress. The boys showed what we would like to show. We sometimes have to defend better. I already told it: it's a pity that fans were not allowed in the stadium today because it was a nice game to watch."

The coach also elaborated on the way of playing of his team. "The defensive aspect will be most important for us. We keep on creating many chances. If you score twice at Standard, that should be sufficient to win. The boys in front did a good job. Dost scored twice, Charles was very dangerous, Hans played well between the lines, Buchanan came in well and Clinton was also strong. I think our focus needs to be put on defending more sharply. That first goal can always happen but that second goal should not happen. That has to do with sharpness."

Finally, the coach still wanted to say something about the injured and absent players. "I think the injury of Nsoki will be more or less ok but we will have to miss Hendry of course after the clear red card. However, looking at our team selection, we have enough options. Clinton can for instance also play in the centre of our defence. I don't worry about that", ended the coach. (TM)