Tara Murray
Altona Magic produced the sort of performance it hasn’t for a number of years on Friday night in the National Premier League.
The Magic left the St Albans Saints stunned with a 5-1 result at home, showing the improvement of the side this season.
The Magic led 2-0 at half time before increasing the lead to 4-0 in the 73rd minute. The Saints got one back, but a goal from Jonas Markovski in injury time was the icing on the cake for the Magic.
Magic coach John Markovski said it was a pretty pleasing performance all round.
“We were switched on for the whole 90 minutes which is great,” he said.
“We had plenty of shots on goal. They haven’t had a performance like this for a few years, it’s really pleasing to see we are at least moving forward.”
One of the most pleasing things about the performance was the spread of goal scorers.
Leading into the match, the Magic had scored 10 goals for the season, with six of them coming from Jonas Markovski.
On Friday night, they had five separate goal scorers.
“He is doing exceptionally well,” Markovski said of his son. “We’re now getting other players coming into it, rather than one player scoring which is great.
“Justin Micallef, Cian Cuba, Robert Harding and Tommy Semmy all scored which is great.”
Markovski said while it had taken them a little longer than they would have liked to settle, they were now heading in the right direction. This is Markovski’s fourth stint as coach of the club.
“We’re starting to be competitive week in, week out and hopefully it continues next week,” he said.
“We have 11 new players from last year, They continue to rise. They are very technical and talented players.
“They’re learning the style we want them to play. It’s pleasing to see they are heading in the right direction, so good, so far.”
Now up to sixth on the table, Markovski said consistency was the focus for the next few weeks.
This week they face the Oakleigh Cannons, who have won the last two titles.
“We just want to continue to do our job and play well,” Markovski said.
“We want to be competitive.
“Oakleigh is a quality side that has won the last two years. On the day anything can happen.”
In the NPL2, Western United lost 1-0 to Langwarrin.
Langwarrin scored in the 34th minute to hit the lead.
Despite the loss, Western United remains on top.
