Scoring late in the piece against Pascoe Vale, the Orangemen were coasting to a much-needed victory on home soil in National Premier League Two.
Then, utter capitulation.
Seven minutes of mayhem thrust the Suns into the jaws of defeat, as Pascoe Vale hit back with a left-right counter punch to head back down the Hume Hwy with three points in the bag.
Carley expressed the heartache shared by his men, enforcing the message of protecting a lead in such a tightly-bound competition.
“The boys were obviously very flat and disappointed — it’s a game they know they deserved to get something from and to come away with no points is a big blow,” Carley said.
“We need to be better in managing games as individuals and as a team we need to stand up and be accountable.
“Up until that point (where we conceded) we were very comfortable and as soon as we scored it was almost like we panicked and went on the back foot. In my opinion we were in control of the game.”
A shrewd first period had neither keeper troubled for the majority.
It was only once the game ticked over the halfway mark that chances began to flow thick and fast, and come the 75th minute, the deadlock was broken after sustained pressure.
Stepping on the throats of Pascoe Vale in the final third, the hosts were exultant as Vani Shamoon’s shot fizzed goalward took a healthy deflection, leaving Pascoe Vale goalkeeper Patrick Satorie to palm the ball into the roof of his own net.
But from then on, it seemed as if the Suns hit the self-destruct button.
Pascoe Vale bundled the ball over the line from a corner five minutes later and almost directly from the restart, a clumsy tackle from Liam Kielty gave referee Bruno D'Aniello no choice but to point to the spot.
Sure enough, Scott Lochhead slammed home the winner from 12 yards to yank a deserved win from beneath the Suns’ noses and silence McEwen Reserve in the process.
“It was two sloppy goals, with errors leading to both goals,” Carley said.
“From the first one, the marking was nowhere near good enough collectively and the second was a silly tackle.
“The positives are we’re mixing it with the best sides in the competition, so we’ll regroup, analyse the footage and go again next weekend.”
● Brandon Giaccherini’s brace was not enough to lift the under-21s to victory, with a vapid first half performance costing the young Suns.
It was all smiles for the under-19s, however, as Josh Dimit’s double was accented by Hassan Alhilfi’s ninth of the season to secure a 3-0 win.
News photographer Rodney Braithwaite was on hand to catch the under-19 action.
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