WILLIAMSTOWN might have found a glimmer of light at the end of a long and dark tunnel.
The Blues shook off a run of defeats and ties with an upset 2-0 win over North Sunshine Eagles in the Football Federation Victoria men’s state league 3 north-west at Grey Reserve on Saturday.
The Blues claimed their first win since June 16 to finally move off the bottom rung of the ladder.
Player-coach Mark Burton is hoping it will provide the impetus to find a way out of the relegation zone.
“It’s been a long time coming,” he told The Weekly.
“We’re hoping it’s a circuit breaker for us leading into five important games.
“We can still avoid relegation.”
It has been a gloomy winter for the aptly named Blues.
Since their 3-1 victory over Hume United in the middle of June, they went seven games for two draws and five losses.
They held an emergency meeting leading into the Eagles game and it seemed to have worked.
“We had a real heart to heart, sat down and talked about what we could do better,” Burton said. “It had to be a collective effort. We all took ownership of what we could do.”
All the talking in the world was no substitute for an ice-breaking early goal.
The Blues got that through striker Andrew Currie in the 25th minute.
Currie was on the receiving end of a perfectly weighted Tony Grozanovski cross to the far post, where he headed it into the back of the net.
“An early goal grows your confidence,” Burton said.
“We had a few chances in the first half and could’ve been two or three up at half-time.”
The Blues did not want the half-time break to come, having bullied the first 45 minutes.
The message from Burton to his players was to continue in the same fashion and not to suffer “concentration lapses”.
Goalkeeper Adrian Gvozdic was important in the organisation of the defence and had all the answers when the Eagles asked questions.
“He had a great game at the back,” Burton said.
“He gives the boys a lot of confidence, not only with his ball handling and shot stopping but with his organising of the defence.”
The Blues would eventually get the insurance goal they wanted with 15 minutes left in the game.
Attacking midfielder Nick Darbyshire produced some nice interplay with his forwards and finished off his build-up play with a sweetly struck goal.
The Blues, two points away from the safety zone, face a winnable game on the road at Cairnlea on Saturday.
-Lance Jenkinson
