Rudan lauds players’ courage

liam.hyslop@stuff.co.nz

Mark Rudan is proud of the way his side battled to a draw after Mandi’s reckless red card forced them to play for more than 25 minutes against Adelaide United with 10 men.

The Spanish midfielder was shown a straight red card in the 68th minute of the 0-0 draw at Coopers Stadium on Saturday after referee Stephen Lucas viewed a replay of an incident a few minutes earlier in which Mandi kicked Vince Lia in the ribs while the Adelaide midfielder was on his hands and knees with the ball under him.

The send off means Mandi will miss tomorrow’s match against the Western Sydney Wanderers, while the Match Review Panel will decide if the incident should be referred to the Disciplinary and Ethics Committee, which then decides if a longer suspension should be imposed.

Immediately after the game Rudan said he had not seen the incident so could not comment, but praised the way his side battled on with 10 men.

‘‘Twenty-eight minutes, 10 men v 11, away from home against a side that was desperate coming off the back of a win away from home themselves. Tremendous spirit, tremendous courage, determination, their discipline was just superb.

‘‘It’s a massive point in the whole scheme of things.

‘‘In seasons gone by, this team would’ve lost. The club has done that in the past and I’ve watched this club closely over the years. Extremely proud of them.’’

Much of that was down to desperate last-ditch defending across the final 22 minutes of normal time and six minutes of added time, while Rudan’s man-of-thematch was Filip Kurto.

The Polish goalkeeper faced seven shots on target and saved every one, including a great save to hold a point-blank header from Jordan Elsey and a wonderful one-handed effort diving to his left in the dying minutes.

‘‘He was a beast in between those sticks, an absolute beast,’’ Rudan said. ‘‘You don’t really want to single out anyone, but it’s only normal, particularly when you’re down to 10 men, that you want players to stand up. They all stood up, but Filip made two really good saves, particularly that header.’’

Adelaide manager Marco Kurz was clear about the red card decision and did not know why Lucas needed to see a replay to send Mandi off.

Mandi’s replacement in midfield for tomorrow’s game will likely be Michal Kopczynski, who has been playing as a centre back, but whose natural position is a defensive midfielder.

Irish striker Cillian Sheridan could be in line for a spot on the bench for the Wanderers game after his international transfer cleared all the administrative hurdles.

A draw or a win would see the Phoenix equal their club record of seven matches unbeaten.