Tara Murray
Altona Magic showed a lot of maturity in its National Premier League win against Dandenong Thunder on Saturday night.
The Magic made it two wins in a row with a solid performance on the field at Paisley Park, but the side was left disappointed as some members of the crowd turned hostile.
Coach Savvas Patikkis said abuse was directed at both Magic coaches and players during the game, including abuse about players’ families, despite it being a Magic home game.
He said they believed the fans involved in the abuse came from another club not involved in the match.
Patikkis said the club would be filing an official report to Football Victoria about the crowd behaviour.
“Some of the things that were yelled at the bench and players was pretty disappointing,” he said.
“It’s not acceptable and something has to be done about it. Our boys were able to stay strong and stay professional and let the football do the talking.”
On field, the Magic recorded back-to-back wins for the first time this season, winning 2-1.
Jonas Markovski opened the scoring in the 13th minute with Cherif Mohamed Aidara doubling the lead in the 26th minute.
The Thunder got one back right on half time through a penalty, with neither side scoring in the second half.
Patikkis said it was a very solid performance from the group. He said the weather conditions and wet ground made the match conditions pretty tough.
“It was a good feeling,” he said. “It was a really tough game.
“They didn’t create too many chances and the boys weren’t put under too much pressure. With what was going on off the pitch, the boys were able to dig deep.”
Patikkis said for the most point the players were able to hold their nerves, with the experienced heads standing up.
One negative to the match was a red card to Mohammad Naeem Rahimi in the 61th minute.
Patikkis said they had taken Rahimi off the pitch in the lead up to the red card, meaning they still had 11 men on the pitch for the last 30 minutes.
He said that Rahimi had let his emotions get the better of him in reaction to the crowd behaviour.
The win moves the Magic to eighth spot and they are now just three points outside the top six.
Patikkis said things were really starting to build nicely.
“We really saw together for the first time,” he said. “We were confident that we were going to get the win after the week we had at training. They were so switched on.
“It’s now very close and we’ll be watching to see what happens with Oakleigh Cannons and Heidelberg United on Monday night as we face them in the next couple of weeks.
“We’ll take it one week at a time and do the right things and hopefully see out our goal of being in the top six at the end of the season.”
