Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg believes his side's heavy fixture load and demanding travel schedule played a significant role in their 4-0 hiding from Perth Glory on Monday.
United were comprehensively outplayed by the in-form Glory, going behind early on before three second half goals ensured Perth's dominance was reflected on the scoreboard.
Bleiberg said the thrashing was due in large part to the quality of the Glory, who are now unbeaten in his past eight, but he said travel had taken its toll.
Gold Coast travelled straight from Launceston, where they were for a 1-1 draw against Melbourne Victory on Wednesday, to Perth for their second game in six days.
Although Bleiberg said it was no excuse, he said the effect of the fixture congestion was obvious against the Glory.
"The fresher team - I think they hadn't played in 10 days - the more experienced team and the better team overall won," he said.
"We played in Tasmania on Wednesday, we flew here on Thursday and we were sitting here Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday so we're tired. It's tiring, that was eight days on the road."
"It's not easy but we're not complaining, we have to cope with it."
"It (the loss) hurt our pride as a club, hurt me as a coach and hurt the players."
"It wasn't an easy day for me. It was one of those days like when you go to work and the boss screams at you and then the car doesn't start and then your wife screams at you again and then the dog is sick so you have to take him to the vet. That was my day today."
United are now winless from their past seven outings and are anchored to the bottom of the table with just 15 points from 19 games.
Sunday's home game against Adelaide United will prove crucial in determining if Gold Coast can avoid the wooden spoon and Bleiberg said he was confident his players would bounce back quickly enough from the tough loss to perform well.
But Peter Jungschlager, who had to be substituted at half-time, and Maceo Rigters are both struggling with injuries.
Bleiberg said it would be a particularly tough blow if Rigters was ruled out.
"It's hard because if Rigters is out and (Joel) Porter is out and Dylan Macallister is out, the average age of my forward line is about 18.5," he said.