THREE points is three points. Nothing more, nothing less.
First-year Altona East Phoenix coach Terry Antoniadis won’t be fooled into thinking this week’s local derby with Altona City at Paisley Park is more important than any other game his side will face in the Football Federation Victoria men’s state league 2 north-west this season.
But is there a heightened level of need for Phoenix and City to extract all three points after being comprehensively beaten in their respective season openers?
“Not from our point of view,” Antoniadis said.
“Regardless of what happened last week, the next game is always the most important one. We’re not at panic stations or anything like that.”
The Phoenix were ripped apart in a short space of time by Keilor Park in the season-opening game before Easter.
It resulted in a 5-1 thrashing that went totally against pre-season indicators.
“In the pre-season we played nine games and conceded five goals and then we effectively conceded five in a half, which was completely unexpected,” Antoniadis said.
“We know we’re much better than what we displayed.
“We had a good chat about how and why things happened and we’ll be working hard to rectify it and make sure it doesn’t happen again when we play Altona City.
“We’re confident that with a bit more polish we can be a hard side to beat and a hard side to score against.”
City is in a similar boat, which makes this contest even more intriguing.
The Fab Incantalupo-coached outfit failed to find the back of the net in a 3-0 loss to Fawkner Blues.
Antoniadis, who has featured in two Phoenix-City derbies, says they are a special occasion for the two clubs but aren’t played with a spiteful edge.
“We respect one another,” he said. “It’s not overly physical in terms of bad tackles or anything malicious. It’s a really good, competitive spirit between the two sides.”
Antoniadis is hoping for a decent turnout for the home opener. “Hopefully, we haven’t scared too many away after last week,” he said with a chuckle.
Kick-off is at 3pm.
FFV FIXTURES
All fixtures Saturday unless otherwise indicated.
SL1: FC Bulleen Lions v Altona Magic (Monday night).
SL2: Altona East Phoenix v Altona City.
SL3: Yarraville FC v North Sunshine Eagles, Melbourne University v Williamstown.
PL1: FC Strathmore v Maribyrnong Greens.
PL2: Laverton Park v Hoppers Crossing.
PL3: Melbourne City v Heidelberg Stars.
