By ADEM SARICAOGLU
WERRIBEE City coach Nino Ragusa believes his side got set upon with “spoiling tactics” by the Fawkner Blues in their 1-1 draw on Sunday.
The State League One clash remained tight for the full 90 minutes and was scoreless at the half. But the Bees managed to salvage a point with a 71st minute equaliser after the Blues struck first three minutes into the second half.
Afterward, Ragusa was keen to point out Fawkner’s defensive plot against City.
“Fawkner came here today very much with spoiling tactics all day, they just got a bit of a lucky break with the penalty,” Ragusa said in his assessment of the match.
“We just lost our momentum as the day went on, to be honest, but they really did come here just to spoil us, not to play any type of football.
“It got pretty ugly towards the end, but it wasn’t actually a vicious game, it was fairly clean from that perspective.”
It was the Blues’ Josip Loncaric who sent the penalty kick past Bees keeper Thomas Dunn, however the clear pre-match underdog couldn’t sustain their momentum for the remainder of the half.
Leigh Minopoulos was the man who stepped up for City in the final half-hour to level the pegging, and despite a frantic final 20 minutes of football in which both teams desperately pursued a winner, by the final whistle they were forced to settle for a point. Despite Fawkner’s negative tactics, Ragusa was left pleased with how his team performed over the course of the match.
“I thought we started very well,” he explained.
“In about the first 30 minutes we played very well, but couldn’t find a breakthrough and the game just deteriorated, really.
“Teams are going to approach Werribee with far more respect, and they’ll come here with different tactics to maybe spoil us.
“Last year being the new team in the league, we actually caught a lot of teams off-guard, and now in our second year we’ve got more respect, so I’ve told the group they’ve got to keep improving to get around that.”
The Bees are fifth after five rounds and face Heidelberg United on the road this Sunday.
