Tara Murray
Altona Magic put in its best performance of the National Premier League season to seal an important win against Heidelberg United on Sunday.
Looking for their second win of the season, the Magic put in a complete performance to come away with the 2-1 win.
The Magic scored both their goals in the first half through Vince Lia and Cherif Mohamed Aidara, with Heidelberg scoring a consolation goal in the dying minutes.
Magic coach Savvas Patikkis said he couldn’t be prouder of the playing group.
“We had a plan and the boys executed the plan,” he said.
“I couldn’t have expected any more from them. We worked on tactics during the week and we made sure we were ready for the battle.
“The boys really fought hard and walked away with the three points, which was the most important thing.”
Patikkis said that the group had taken plenty of confidence from its mid-week Australia Cup match against Bentleigh United Cobras which they had won 9-1.
Magic scored four goals in the first half, before piling on another five after the brea,
“We played a team in a lower league, but scoring nine goals at any senior level environment is never easy.”
Sunday’s win was the Magic’s second of the season, with the side currently sitting ninth.
Patikkis said they had hoped to be a little higher on the table at this point of the season considering the teams they had played so far.
“It is still a relatively new squad and we are in the early stages of our journey,” he said.
“We’re taking each week as it comes, but we’re not entirely happy with the season as we had hoped to have won a couple more games.
“We will talk during the week and the performance on Sunday will be a starting point.
“We have been playing good football every week bar one week, If we can put together the performance on the weekend consistently each week it would be good. That is what good teams do.”
The Magic this week face Port Melbourne away from home. Port Melbourne currently sit third with three wins and three draws.
Patikkis said it was time to put multiple wins on the board.
“Port Melbourne are a tough side and are in form and have momentum. We play Dandenong the week after.
“It’s a couple of big games for us.”
