Adelaide United coach Josep Gombau insists he isn’t getting carried away with his side’s impressive start to the season which has seen them progress to the last four of the Westfield FFA Cup.
The Reds joined the Central Coast Mariners in the semi-finals after a gritty 3-1 extra-time win over a 10-man Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium on Tuesday night.
Gombau’s side has now knocked out three Hyundai A-League clubs on their march to the semi-finals and they have also enjoyed an unbeaten start to the new campaign.
“There is a long way to go. It’s not the way you start, it’s the way that you finish,” Gombau said.
“We need to keep working but of course I’m happy. We won away, drew at home and today we have this result.
“But on Sunday we have Perth who is on top of the table and they are doing well. It will be a big game and an important game for us…at home we have to get the three points.”
Adelaide were clearly the better side in the first half and took the lead through Sergio Cirio before the Sky Blues equalized six minutes after the break through Alex Brosque.
The game then swung in the Reds’ favour three minutes from full-time when Sydney FC defender Nikola Petkovic was sent off for a late challenge on Fabio Ferreira.
Asked his opinion on the incident, Gombau said: “I never speak about the referee. Never. The job is very difficult.
“It’s true, Fabio (Ferreira) does have a contusion (on his leg) but to say it’s a red card or not I don’t know. I’m not a referee I’m a coach.”
Adelaide made the most of their numerical advantage in extra-time, with striker Bruce Djite scoring twice to seal the result and keep the club alive for the year’s first piece of silverware.
“Every competition we play we try to do or best. We’re taking this cup seriously and we’ve played against three A-League teams in our three games (in the tournament),” Gombau said.
“Now we will play the semi-finals and try and do our best. Every time the players put on a t-shirt from Adelaide they want to do a good job.
“For sure we want to win but the other three teams in the semi-finals want to win also.”
