Victory skipper Kevin Muscat says his missed spot kick in Saturday night's Hyundai A-League Grand Final loss to Sydney FC on penalties will 'haunt' him for some time.
Normally so reliable from the spot, having only missed one from more than 20 attempts in the five years he has led Melbourne, and that one that he managed to put away on the rebound, Muscat stepped up to take his team's first when the shootout started.
But this time the veteran defender failed to convert, sending Sydney FC goalkeeper Clint Bolton the wrong way but watching in horror as his attempt rattled the left post, with the visitors going on to prevail 4-2 to complete the premiership and championship double.
"Oh look mate (I'm) shattered," Muscat said.
"We got the result a couple of weeks ago to host the grand final and I feel a little bit ... that we let the fans down."
"I'm sure they'll be proud of us regardless but missing the penalty as well, I've scored quite a few in the last four or five years, missing that one tonight on the big stage it's going to haunt me for a while."
"I was positive, Clint (Bolton) dived the other way so I executed it well but probably too well, (I) hit it too well and dragged it."
"Like I said it's going to haunt me for a little while but look I've taken the pats on the back when I've scored them and I'm big enough to take the criticism tonight."
With the team having just a matter of a couple of hours after the defeat to get to the airport and head straight to Japan for Tuesday's night's AFC Champions League clash with Kawasake Frontale, Muscat admitted it will be tough to get up again so soon.
But knowing that the club needs a result in that match to stay in the hunt for a berth in the next stage of the ACL, Muscat is desperate to atone and try to return to Melbourne for the March 31 home game against the same opponent still in the running in front of the Victory fans.
"There's no doubt, I'm not going to try and insult you by telling you we'll be fine and mentally we'll be okay because we've lost a grand final and it hurts and it hurts deep," he added.
"As I said we feel like we've got the best fans in the country by a stretch, it's not even a race, and today we've sent them home, maybe a little bit unhappy in the result (but) I'm pretty sure they'll be proud of us."
"And as I said we represent Melbourne and represent Victoria and the mental scars will hang around for a few days but it's our jobs to pick ourselves up and get a result because we need a result in Japan Tuesday night to try and compete."
"We're a proud football club, I'm extremely proud of the players and the whole club the fans, the most important people in the club are the fans, our supporters and members."
"So we owe it to them to pick ourselves up on Tuesday night and get a result and try and qualify."