Port Melbourne coach Eric Vassiliadis was shattered to miss out on finals football following a crushing 4-0 defeat to South Melbourne on the weekend, but had no regrets about his team’s journey this season.
The club finished in sixth place in its first season back in the Victorian Premier League for ten years.
A tame capitulation to South Melbourne on Sunday, combined with Green Gully’s 3-1 home triumph, left Port Melbourne agonisingly close (one point) but out of reach from the top five finals qualification places.
Despite the circumstances, Vassiliadis was humble in defeat.
“We’re devastated. I want to congratulate South Melbourne. They did what they had to do today – a sign of a professional unit,” he said.
“I’m extremely proud of our boys and the way they’ve conducted themselves during the course of the year at this football club. Once the dust settles, that’ll become more apparent.”
Vassiliadis lamented the disruption to his team’s preparations from the restructuring of the table caused by Southern Stars’ alleged match-fixing.
“It was very, very difficult – almost impossible – for us to mentally prepare our boys over the last seven days. The reality was we were the only team in the top five that could only go up, but in the end, we were the only team playing for something, so we’re disappointed with that.”
Despite being punished by a quartet of goals from the visitors, Vassiliadis insisted that nothing in particular had gone wrong, and conceded that his side were simply overwhelmed by South Melbourne’s considerable firepower.
“When it comes down to one game, it’s a final. I’ve got to pay credit to South Melbourne. In the front third they are extremely powerful. In the end, we were just beaten by the better team,” he said.
“We created enough opportunities today to score. But in the end, they could have conceded three goals, and they would have still won the game.”
Vassiliadis’ perspective on football philosophy was clear, as he explained his view that attacking bravery is paramount to success in football.
“I wanted to make sure if we achieve anything in football we have to win games and be brave. We can’t sit back and be nervous,” he said.
“The challenge was to play forward, to get on it and to be brave. The boys responded. But in the end it was too hard.”