Springvale White Eagles coach Zed Mihajlovic was disappointed with the basic defensive mistakes which let bottom placed Brunswick City back into the contest in their 4-2 victory on Saturday afternoon.
While the goals ultimately didn’t hurt the home side over the 90 minutes – with the Eagles coming back to claim their sixth win of the season – Mihajlovic said his team failed to kick on after a positive start.
“I thought we started off well and again took an early lead but I thought we should’ve kept going on with it,” the head coach said.
“Again you know that’s our season in terms of the quality of the goals we let the opposition score. [For the second goal] our stoppers, no pressure, both of them didn’t talk and you know we’re 2-1 down.
“They got a spark at half-time and it was just a matter of what they needed to do better and they did it. The second half was 3-0, that’s the score line.”
The win saw Springvale jump up to 11th on the ladder, but it could’ve been very different, with Mihajlovic conceding the defensive frailties of his side – which has marred their performances all season – could’ve cost them the three points as Brunswick put away the only two chances it had for the game.
“That’s been the story of the last four or five rounds, I mean North Geelong we lost 3-2, they had three chances and scored three, Dandy City did the same, scored two and parked the bus,” Mihajlovic said.
“Here we gave the opposition two goals. So you know it’s a good thing when you’re down 2-1 at half-time to come out and win but again you know that’s the difference, the concentration.
“It’s hard to get back into games if we’re giving them away goals but thankfully today Brunswick wasn’t a strong opposition for us, although they did make it scary for us knowing they scored two goals from two chances.”
Heading into the final rounds, points are crucial as the Eagles face off against mid-to-lower tier sides over the next month.
With games against Bulleen Lions (seventh), Kingston City (ninth), Bendigo (12th) and Sunshine George Cross (eighth) the fixture provides a good opportunity to pick up points before facing off against Avondale Heights.
Mihajlovic sees this as the perfect opportunity to climb the ladder and build some confidence, starting with Saturday’s home clash against the aforementioned Bulleen.
“Bulleen comes here next week, they’re obviously a team that we lost to last time but you know they’ve lost a couple of good players during the transfer window,” he said.
“We’ve got to be positive and think that we can go and win that game as well, especially after a win. [It’s] amazing what a win does.
“If we can set ourselves up before half-time and go in at a 2-0 buffer, then we can obviously punish some teams but let’s work on playing the simple brand of football that we want to [play].
“To make [the team performance] more effective rather than doing individual brilliances. It’s a team game, as long as we don’t concede silly goals the result will show itself.”
Springvale host Bulleen Lions at White Eagles Stadium on Saturday, with kick-off for the NPL 1 clash scheduled for 3pm.