Away to North Geelong Warriors and cruising in autopilot at 2-0 up during the second half, a horror span saw the Orangemen ship three goals — and have a penalty saved — to cede power and hand the hosts all three points.
The round four National Premier League Two clash at Elcho Park was dressed with all the trimmings of a box office match, but unfortunately for Suns coach Craig Carley, his side was on the wrong end of a 3-2 ledger at full-time.
“An eight-minute spell has basically cost us a game that we were well and truly in control of and cruising,” Carley said.
“(It was) really, really disappointing that we haven’t been able to manage that moments; although I can’t fault the way the boys played, I thought they were brilliant.
“First half especially was some of the best football that we’ve played this year, but I guess that complacency has crept in and ultimately cost us.
“Full credit to Geelong for pouncing on that, but it’s really disappointing to walk away from the weekend with no points.”
A frenetic early tempo was capitalised on by gunslinger Mangara Munguakonkha, who netted the Suns’ first in the ninth minute before English striker Tommy Blennerhassett opened his account just before the half-hour mark.
Up by two at the break and sailing, the first warning sign came via a Suns mistake.
North Geelong’s Angus Chapman intercepted a wayward pass out of the Orangemen’s backline and converted in the 66th minute and, no less than two minutes later, the Warriors were square after Sonny Brimmer knocked home a close-quarters cutback.
The powder keg nearly exploded when the Suns were awarded a penalty moments after the restart, but the home fans were back on their feet in a flash.
Goalkeeper Alex Mazzaferro first stopped Sean Grant from the spot then dove to deny Laywi Niyonkuru on the follow-up and the Suns’ death knell sounded when Brimmer headed home his second goal five minutes later.
With North Geelong holding on for a smash and grab victory, Carley was left wondering what happened after the Warriors “couldn’t lay a glove” on the Suns during the first half.
“I think it’s just a case of getting together, regroup and refocusing after a goal has been scored and managing the game a little bit better and that falls down to us as coaches as well as the players,” he said.
“Trying to disrupt the game a little bit, trying to unsettle it and we just didn’t do that; they had the momentum and we struggled to do that.
“At times, you’re going to be going up against adversity and teams are going to be on the front foot, but that’s part and parcel of football — we have to manage that, we never did and got punished.
“Hopefully it’s a lesson learned; (it’s) certainly three points dropped in my opinion, but the positive from that is that we’ve shown again how good a side we can be for 45 minutes there.”
Carley also praised his side’s ability to disturb North Geelong’s usual style and force the Warriors to alter their build up play.
That will come in handy when the Suns return to McEwen Reserve on Saturday to face bottom-of-the-league Nunawading City, a side renowned for its close-quarters passing philosophy.
“The important thing about football is there’s always another game the following week to make amends, so hopefully the boys can do that on a show again,” Carley said.
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