A stark advantage in the midfield provided the linchpin of FC Williamstown’s 2-1 win over bottom-of-the-ladder Brunswick Zebras in the Football Federation Victoria men’s state league 3 north-west at JT Gray Reserve on Saturday.
The international flavour of Darryl Roach and the home-grown product of Alex Dimitrijevic combined in the middle of the park for the Blues to run rings around the visiting Zebras.
“We dominated them in the middle,” Blues team manager Henrik Nielsen told Star Weekly.
“They were on their heels most of the game.”
Roach, a former Port Melbourne Sharks player, has appeared at the highest level of football for Montserrat, a nation from the CONCACAF region, which has risen to as high as 165th on the FIFA world rankings.
Added to a young Blues squad, Roach has brought that experience from the top level to the Williamstown stable and has been a priceless mentor for the youngsters at the club.
“He’s a special player,” Nielsen said. “He does have that big-game experience and he’s a big boy, a solid player with great skills.
“On the ball, he’s definitely a handful and he can hold the ball up nicely, and he’s very dangerous when he has it.”
Dimitrejevic is no less important to the make-up of the side and he and Roach are the yin and yang of the centre of the park.
Dimitrejevic started at the club as a junior before spreading his wings at a higher level and returning to the club.
“He’s played down at Williamstown since the under-7s and his whole family is Williamstown,” Nielsen said. “He left a few years ago to play some divisions higher but came back.”
Despite the lop-sided possession in the game in Williamstown’s favour, it took a double from striker Italo Arcelino de Carvalho to put the game away.
Both goals came in the first half, the winner coming the penalty spot.
De Carvalho has been on fire of late, scoring six goals in four matches, including a hat-trick against Western Eagles three weeks ago.
The Blues remain third on the ladder, one point adrift of the promotion positions.
The next two games will be critical to their promotion hopes, with a home match against fourth-placed Upfield on Saturday, followed by the short trip to second-placed Altona City, who won 4-1 over La Trobe University on Saturday.
“Those two games are going to be incredibly important for us to see what our chances are of getting promotion,” Nielsen said.
“Those top-of-the-table games make it fun. That’s where the intensity goes up.”
