Marko Rudan has voiced his frustration with his Western Sydney side - and the McDonald Jones Stadium playing surface - after the Wanderers fought back to claim a 2-2 draw at Newcastle.
The Wanderers blew a chance to move joint top of the A-League Men on Sunday, trailing 2-0 at halftime courtesy of a brace from Jets striker Apostolos Stamatelopoulos.
Josh Brillante’s close-range finish and a maiden ALM goal from Swedish import Marcus Antonsson helped the unbeaten Wanderers salvage a point in the second half.
But Rudan was dissatisfied with how Rob Stanton’s Jets exploited his side on the counter and how they failed to make the home side pay.
“I’m not happy that we dropped two points,” Rudan said.
“The intention was to come here and pick up all three points.
“We dominated the game as a whole, we had a lot of the ball and we got chances.
"The character shown by the players at 2-0 down, you don't foresee that but you still have to react to that and there was a really good reaction.”
Rudan was critical of Newcastle’s home deck, which recently hosted a Paul McCartney concert and had noticeable patches of wear and tear.
The surface was also subject to heavy rain in the hours before kick-off.
“I could be wrong here but Rob is a very astute coach and we coached against each other for many years in the NPL,” Rudan said.
“The grass is very long and we play a very quick passing game.
“I don't know why it was so long, but it's probably the longest I've seen in the A-League for a number of years.”
The Wanderers dominated possession - enjoying 66 per cent of the ball - but the Jets were able to hurt them on the counter in the first half.
Stamatelopoulos, who returned to Australia after a stint in Greece last year, now has three goals in three games for the Jets but his side remain winless this season.
“He's come in with an unbelievable attitude,” Stanton said.
“He's 24 now and I think he's shown tremendous maturity, so there's been a real shift. He just led the team and that's a reward for committing every day and applying yourself.”
Stamatelopoulos’s double wasn’t enough to keep the Wanderers at bay with Brillante bundling in a header from captain Marcelo to give Western Sydney hope with half an hour to go.
Antonsson, who was feeding off scraps for large parts of the game, then squared the ledger with 10 minutes left but the Jets held on to claim a point.
