Saturday was always going to provide a good gauge to where Ballarat stood against a quality outfit – Melbourne City sitting atop of the east side of the competition.

Ballarat squandered an early chance as the inform Michael Trigger, who would later be sent off and will now miss at least one week with suspension, missed a goal he would normally kick. Melbourne then converted immediately on the counter attack to score after six minutes. Melbourne scored its second with 15 minutes to go to make it very difficult for the visitors.

Coach Danny Gnjidic said he felt the side generated enough opportunities and showed signs it could match it with the best sides, but he conceded it took his group too long to adjust to Melbourne’s tactics.

“We’ve played the top two sides in the east...and we’ve lost both 2-0 and in both we come out pretty disappointed to have not got at least a point,” Gnjidic said.

“City was very good, they’re not sitting first on that side for no reason...it took us a little while to adjust to what they were doing. We didn’t use the ball as well and we didn’t stop them from doing what they were doing.”

“We’re not that far away, it’s the top two sides on the east, and yes we’re on the wrong end of the scoreline each time, but we’ve definitely shown that we’re more than capable of matching it with those guys.”

Trigger’s red card late in the piece was believed to be for an initial incident which drew a yellow card, followed by abuse to the referee which resulted in an immediate second yellow and a send off – the club will seek confirmation early in the week.

Despite the disappointing loss, Gnjidic did not think the result would be a significant blow to the group’s confidence.

“We don’t come out with any significant impact on our confidence or our belief. It just goes to show it’s a fine line between winning and losing sometimes.”