After amassing a second straight victory of the NPL season – this time an against the odds 1-0 win over Oakleigh Cannons – Green Gully boss Bob Stojcevski has refuted the notion that the Cavaliers good start was at all surprising.
In fact, the coach threw to comments he made last week, where he alluded to the fact his intentions were to come out and play football against Oakleigh, rather than just stifle their impact and play for the draw.
“I do recall talking about this game last week, and our mindset was coming out to win this game, not to try and constrict Oakleigh in any way,” Stojcevski said.
“Whilst we have to be mindful of their talents, and yes they’re a very talented team, once we got the ball, we were looking to attack.
“Even when we took the lead, we were still trying to score that second goal to finish them off, and that was with 10 players. That’s a statement in itself.”
Despite the three points, Stojcevski was comfortable admitting that his team still weren’t where he wanted them to be, but gave them plenty of credit for grinding out two successive victories to start 2015.
“We set high expectations for the team, we set some big goals. We’ll keep them in-house but I wouldn’t say I’m surprised [by our start],” the head coach said.
“I’d say we still need to develop and evolve further to become a fluent team. Our play is still patchy; there were patches where we allowed the opposition into the game, so we’ll keep working on that.
“We’ve set a standard for this team and right now they’re still not where I want them to be.
“If beating Oakleigh means anything, it’s three points. Every game is three points. Next week we have North Geelong, and that’s an equally important game.”
Their game against the Warriors midweek will see them start without veteran centre-half Roddy Vargas, who was sent off in the dying stages of the clash against the Cannons.
While an integral part of the defensive unit for Gully, Stojcevski admits it’s the structure and chemistry which is more the reason for their defensive stability this campaign.
“Our shapes been really important for us – it’s something we’ve worked on,” he said.
“You can see how well they’ve gelled. Their understanding defensively is starting to come together.
“I’m pleased defensively as to how they held their shape. We worked really hard, challenged just about every ball, so the ethic that we’re trying to build in the team is coming out, which is pleasing.
“In attack, we’ve still got some work to do, we had some opportunities but we didn’t put them away, but at least we’re creating chances. We probably had three clear cut chances to their two, so the win was deserved in that regard.”
With such a quick turn around in terms of games, Stojcevski conceded he’ll have to wait with bated breath as to how his side will pull up, hinting there could be changes in the line-up besides the enforced one of Vargas.
“We’ve got our recovery tomorrow morning so we start the process early. We’ll have to wait and see how every pulls up then. A lot of niggles don’t appear until a rest and a sleep, so we’ll see how we go.
“We know Roddy obviously isn’t available and we’ll have to reshape the team, so we obviously can’t have the same starting 11, that’s for sure.”
Green Gully will be hoping to make it three straight to start the NPL Victoria season as the joint ladder leaders take on winless North Geelong Warriors on Wednesday night. Kick-off at Green Gully reserve is scheduled for 8:30pm.