The text messages coming in to the phone of Altona Magic coach Goran Lozanovski after Saturday’s game were creating their own little symphony.
Friends were posing questions such as: Is that score legitimate? Is there a mix up in the online scoring system? Were 11 goals really scored?
There was no glitch in the system.
The Magic simply ran riot in a 9-2 annihilation of Sunshine George Cross at Knights Stadium on Saturday.
“I was saying on the bench that I don’t think I’ve been involved in a game where there’s been 11 goals scored,” Lozanovski said.
“That was a little bit surprising.
“It is rare, but it’s nice when it happens.”
For the first 45 minutes, Altona was the better team, but it did not show on the scoreboard which was locked at two apiece.
The Magic had the lion’s share of attack, resulting in goals to Marino Gasparis and Jon McShane, but goals to David Younan and Branden Petrevski gave the Georgies parity.
Just before the half-time break the game erupted. Sunshine’s first goalscorer Younan was judged to have committed two yellow card-worthy fouls, leaving his side down to 10 men.
A ruthless Altona took full advantage, scoring not once, but twice through Ben Clarke and Mark Pistininzi to go into half-time with a 4-2 advantage.
Lozanovski agreed it can be frustrating for a team to lose a player through line-ball yellow cards, but said it was important to remain level-headed, which he felt the Georgies failed to do from that point in the game.
“Once you start losing your discipline and your shape, it can become quite messy and it did for them unfortunately,” Lozanovski said.
Altona was a tad wasteful in the first half, but they had the killer touch in the final 45 minutes.
Magic goals to Jordan Wilkes and Ben Litfin came before the second red card, awarded to Su-Beom An, leaving the hosts down to nine men.
The Magic did as they pleased in the final 21 minutes, posting three more goals through McShane – who finished with a double – substitute James McGarry and man-of-the-match Melvin Becket.
After so many missed chances to bury teams last year, Lozanovski was pleased to see his side keep its foot on the pedal for the full 90.
“You don’t get these opportunities every week where you get one or two send-offs, so you need to punish and hurt teams in those situations,” Lozanovski said.
“It was very rewarding to get eight different scorers on the score sheet.”
Becket was outstanding in his first start for the season.
“The whole group was great, but Melvin was our standout today,” Lozanovski said.
“He’s got a bit of X-factor about him and he can cause havoc for most defences.”
Altona will host Melbourne Victory in the third round at Paisley Park on Saturday.
In the FFA Cup, Laverton had a comfortable 4-0 win over Noble Park at Laverton Park Reserve on Saturday, but it was bad news for Altona North, who was upended 1-0 by Monash University at D.N. Duane Reserve, and Maribyrnong Greens, who were trounced 6-2 by Tatura at John McEwen Reserve.
