By Lance Jenkinson
Yarraville Glory exacted a swift revenge on Essendon Royals in the Football Federation Victoria men’s state league 2 north-west.
Three weeks earlier, the Royals dished out a five-goal hammering to an undermanned Glory in the FFA Cup.
But the Glory returned fire on Saturday with a sweet 4-1 win in the league at McIvor Reserve.
Glory coach Charlie Egan told
Star Weekly knowledge of the opposition garnered from the loss had played a big part in his side’s reversal of form.
“Playing them in the Cup was an advantage in the sense that we knew what to expect,” Egan said. “When we played them in the Cup, that was their strongest hit and, obviously, it wasn’t our strongest hit.
“So we were given a heads-up, tactically, on how to approach them.”
Yarraville has started the season like a house on fire, picking up six of a possible six points.
Players are banging in the goals, too:
seven in two games.
Egan rated the win over the Royals highly, believing the side will prove to be a “benchmark” team in the division.
“Although they’ve lost their first two games,
I see them as one of the best teams in the league, so it was a huge turnaround for us to beat them,” he said.
“They’re a good football team, very strong, very well organised and with a lot of
experience.
“We won 4-1 today and that suggests an easy victory, but it wasn’t. It was very much an arm wrestle. We scored a couple of late goals which put the gloss on it.”
Darcey Den Ouden “worked his socks off” on the Yarraville front line and reaped the rewards with two goals.
Steve Georgakakis and Tony Grozdanovski also got on the score sheet for the Glory.
Goalkeeper Peter Kourkoulis made a number of fine saves, including a crucial one on a Royals counter-attacking move, to put the game to bed.
“We should’ve gone 3-1 up at one end; we had a golden chance, which we should’ve scored, and then Essendon rebounded and Peter had to pull off a great save,” Egan said.
“There are fine measures sometimes when you’re playing good opposition.
“The game can swing either way on a key moment and he pulled off a couple of saves at those key moments.”
The Glory will head into the Easter break feeling good after securing maximum points in the first two rounds.
“Two games, two wins … there’s a good feeling about the place,” Egan said.
“If you don’t do the hard work you don’t get the result, and they’ve been doing three nights a week in the heat, doing really physical work.
“And when you get off to a good start like that, the players can buy into it. It’s a great reward.”
In state league 1 north-west, Altona Magic drew with Western Suburbs for no score, while Altona East Phoenix shared the points with Cairnlea in a 2-2 result. In state league 3 north-west, Williamstown is one of three teams with a perfect record after exiting
La Trobe University 1-0 on the road.
Altona City smashed North City Wolves 5-0.
In state league 4 west, Melbourne City won the local derby 5-0 over Laverton Park; Altona North lost 2-1 to Surf Coast; and Maribyrnong Greens went down 4-0 at Point Cook.
