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Adelaide United have kicked off their <i>A-League Men </i>season with a 1-1 draw at Coopers Stadium against defending champions Central Coast.
Adelaide United coach Carl Veart says his side lacked the required match conditioning to kill off Central Coast as the Reds had to settle for a 1-1 A-League Mens (ALM) draw.
United looked sharp in the opening stanza and had the Mariners on the ropes early, breaking the deadlock through Luka Jovanovic after just 10 minutes.
Veart's side had a few more half-chances before the end of the opening stanza, as well as another couple of opportunities following the restart.
But as the second 45 minutes wore on, the visitors turned up the pressure and United faded before substitute Sabit Ngor equalised on 62 minutes.
The difference in intensity between the two sides in the second half was evident and Veart conceded the Mariners looked more match-hardened.
This was Adelaide's first competitive contest since their Australia Cup semi-final defeat to Melbourne Victory on September 21, while Central Coast kicked off their AFC Champions League Elite campaign in the same week.
The Mariners had already played three matches in that competition heading into their second ALM fixture against Adelaide on Saturday.
"That match conditioning, that match sharpness, it takes three or four games," Veart said.
"Yes we've had some good games leading up to round one, but friendly games and games for points, the intensity is much higher.
"And you saw that, a couple of our boys were struggling in the second half so it's disappointing, not to have the three points, but they're a good side and we've got a point which is something we can build on."
Adelaide had more than enough opportunities to kill off the contest before the visitors equalised and Veart was left to lament the squandered chances.
"We're a little bit disappointed we didn't make more of our great play that we had, even in the second half we had some good half chances that we should have done better with," he said.
"Goals change matches and I think we needed to get that second goal in the first half and even in the second half, we needed to score a goal to take the wind out of their sails a little bit because we knew they were going to come hard.
"We just didn't do that; we kept them in the game, and against a good side, they punished us in the end."
Mariners coach Mark Jackson admitted it was a poor opening 45 minutes from his side, but refused to blame it on Tuesday's Champions League game against Shanghai Port in China.
"It was a terrible first half from us, and a slight improvement in the second half but it still wasn't up to our standards," he said.
"But we tweaked the formation, put a couple of fresh legs on at halftime as well and I think that impetus and that switch in structure helped us take a foothold in the game.
"There were various reasons why we felt leggy in the first half and I'm certainly not a manager who uses excuses because we dealt with that last year.
"We have to deal with that when we're competing in the Champions League so we need to be better at that, but the shift in formation in the second half certainly helped us."