ALTONA North has conquered a Point Cook line-up sporting two former Socceroos in the Football Federation Victoria men’s state league 5.
North managed to nullify the influence of superstars Joe Spiteri and Danny Tiatto and go on to claim a 3-1 win on the road at Saltwater Reserve.
It was arguably the club’s greatest win in its short history.
“It wasn’t an easy trip and I was quite happy to get a win there,” North coach Robert Casha told the Weekly.
“It was one of those days where the boys had that never-say-die attitude.
“They said ‘I’m not going to lose’ and you could see that from the start of the game. They were just switched on.”
North’s victory was built on its defensive resistance.
Spiteri had been in white-hot form with seven goals in the opening three matches and needed to be taken out of the game.
Casha did not want to be too Spiteri-conscious and open up holes in other areas of the park, so rather than play the veteran man-on-man, he asked for a two-pronged effort from captain Jimmy Naumovski and centre-back Tommy Stojcevski to keep him quiet.
“They were the catalysts of our win,” Casha said.
“They didn’t get Joe Spiteri any room to get to the ball and he was reduced to little flicks over his head or playing the ball back through his midfield.
“He didn’t really get too many opportunities to go forward.”
Adam Whatmore was superb in the middle of the park for North.
Not only did he negate the impact of Tiatto, he was one of the chief playmakers for North.
Whatmore found the back of the net, along with Daniel Vetrone and Josh Bondin.
North, which still has plenty of improvement to come with a number of first-team regulars sidelined with injury, will be aiming high in their first season in state league.
“I believe we’ll get better from here,” Casha said.
“Hopefully we can push for promotion or give it a real good rattle.”
