MELBOURNE Heart boss John van't Schip admitted his players were heartbroken after Robbie Fowler's controversial stoppage-time penalty for Perth Glory deprived the A-League new boys of a first win.
Michael Baird hit the deck in stoppage time and Fowler coolly finished past Clint Bolton - putting Glory back on top of the table in the process.
Van 't Schip admitted the team was heartbroken to concede a goal in the dying embers of the 2-2 draw, saying his side had again shown improvement.
"That's the most difficult thing I think because we are working very hard to get that first win and today it seemed to be there, but as we know, the game is more than 90 minutes," he said.
"Looking back at the game, I think the first half was good, we played very aggressive, very quick and forward defending football, created some good chances. We got a good lead with the goal and I thought it was a deserved penalty.
"But then coming back from the equaliser, which was a strange goal again, it was a little bit unlucky, but we kept on going and made a good goal with Nick Kalmar.
"In the second half, we didn't manage any more to play the game we did in the first half, we didn't keep the ball up high. You could see Perth was applying more pressure, and they made one or two opportunities but Clint (Bolton) was playing a great game."
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