Following Heidelberg United’s 3-0 cup win over Box Hill United, Bergers coach John Kyrgios was delighted with the impact his young chargers had in the match, after being made to step up with a spate of injuries hampering the squad.
Missing the likes of Julia Nicolaci, Maria Tsolacos and Melanie Camilleri just to name a few over the last few weeks, Kyrgios has been forced to utilise his younger brigade.
And while the results so far this season haven’t gone their way, the Bergers managed to conjure up a solid effort against Box Hill, winning in convincing fashion.
Kyrgios was quick to praise his side for the win, which has put his side into the Quarter Finals.
“We’re very happy that we’ve gone into the next round and I’m more happy about the quality of our young girls,” Kyrgios said.
“It was an opportunity to play the young ones, we’ve had a lot of injuries but also had an opportunity to play all our quality reserve, or younger players.
“They really played well today and I was really ecstatic about that to be honest.
“It just showed that out of the those seven that we had out there, there were at least three that can step up. In fact one of them is a regular that has done really well, young Holly [Tsalikidis].”
Another youngster to impress was Annabel Hosking, who also managed to get herself on the scoresheet after punishing Box Hill for some hesitancy inside their own box.
Her progress has delighted Kyrgios, particularly with the fact that she has come from Heidelberg’s State League 3 North squad.
“Annabel is only 15 and it’s interesting. She was playing State League 3 last week, and she played in the seniors today and she was very, very good,” he said.
“This is the development path that we have there. It depends how good you play and how well you go that you can actually move amongst the three squads.
“We’re serious about that, we’ve actually shown it today and she was amazing. She’s come out of her shell. Last time she had a game was Round 1 against Ashburton and she was very nervous but today she was amazing.”
The fixture also allowed Heidelberg to hand a debut to their new American goalkeeper Kelsey Quinn, who has recently arrived from the United States, and Kyrgios felt she acquitted herself well.
“She’s finally arrived and it was welcoming,” he said.
“She did very well and you could tell the difference in terms of playing out and so forth. She was very good so we’re expecting many things from her as well.”
With this win under their belt, and with players expected to return from injury over the next couple of weeks, Kyrgios is hoping that his side will finally be able to show some consistency from week to week.
“We haven’t been able to list our top 11 or 12 players in not even one game this season,” he said.
“It’s been very difficult in terms of injuries and cutting and changing. Some of the other teams are feeling that, I think Box Hill is in the same boat as well and with teams that lack in depth and quality when you do get injuries it’s very, very hard and we found it very hard in our first five six rounds.
“But having said that it also gives our younger ones an opportunity to step up and from my point of view that’s a big bonus as well.
“So in terms of consistency, we’re getting some players back so that will help us and also the young ones have lifted so we’ll see how we go with that.”
Next up for Heidelberg will be Cairnlea on Saturday, and Kyrgios expects nothing more than an outfit that will be hard to break down.
“It’s going to be very hard against Cairnlea, they’ve got really good structure,” he said.
“But hopefully we’ll get some of our players back again. There’s a lot missing at the moment and if we can get some off the treatment table it’ll be wonderful.”
As for their potential Quarter Final opponents, Kyrgios doesn’t really worry about who they will come up against, but revealed the squad is hell bent on making sure they give it their best to win the trophy.
“Bloody oath we’re in it to win it, there’s no doubt about it. The girls know the prize money is going to their end of year trip if they get there so it’s up to them,” he said.
“It doesn’t bother me [who we draw] to be honest, any team is fine.”