New York Red Bulls II Head Coach John Wolyniec
On the first half:
Yeah, it was really deflating. That’s sometimes one of the harder talks to give to a team, especially when you take a goal, what, 30 seconds before halftime, and to make it two, especially. I felt like we were doing a lot of good things, I think we started the game OK and then gradually started to really get a grip on the game. Had a few chances, a few good chances to take a lead, and then I think there’s a mental thing that happens after you miss a few chances that you just kind of like, start to expect the worst, and then all of a sudden the ball winds up in your own net.
On Brandon Allen:
You always like a guy that scores goals, and he seems to be scoring goals. Hopefully it continues, we’ve known Brandon for a long time, I was with the academy when he was with our U-18s. He just finds ways, sometimes you don’t even know how, but he just finds ways to put the ball in the back of the net. I guess he’s just one of those guys that has that innate sense of where the ball is going to be, and how to get it to where it needs to be.
On energy in the second half:
I think it’s a combination of things, one, first game, little bit of jitters and excitement, and then 30 minutes in you’re flying around, getting good chances, and then by the 35th minute you start to say “woah, this is a real game.” I think that kind of came into play a little bit. I think when you miss chances, like I said before, mentally speaking, it starts to take its toll, and then you kind of drop your play a bit.
And sometimes it’s natural, it’s hard to keep up a high pace for 45 minutes straight. In the second half I thought we came out okay, we got a shot on goal within 30 seconds, so our energy was OK in the second half, maybe it wasn’t perfect, but first game of the year, the guys aren’t fully ready for 90 minutes of output so, in that sense, I was pretty happy with the energy overall.
New York Red Bulls II Forward Brandon Allen
On scoring in professional debut:
Obviously it’s very exciting, but I have to my hats off to Derrick [Etienne] for earning the PK, and I think he helped me get my momentum for the second goal, so overall I thought it was good to come out with the tie. We’ll work out the rest in training, and we’re looking forward to the next game for sure.
On coming into the season in good form:
Yeah, definitely. It’s definitely always good to start off preseason with two goals, so coming in I felt pretty good, and it’s good to come out with a tie, but hopefully next time we get the ‘W.”
