By Luke Sheehan
GREEN Gully’s week went from bad to worse on Saturday when it lost 3-1 to Altona Magic at Green Gully Reserve.
The Cavaliers scored in the 19th minute courtesy of Gary Wales, but conceding two goals just before half time hurt the home side dearly.
Slave Bozinovski scored the Magic’s first with a header, Tony Saric headed their second before Koce Delev scored from a goal-mouth scramble to seal the game.
The Cavaliers were playing under stand-in and former assistant coach Paul Harris, who took the reins from Peter Ollerton just days before the game, after Ollerton and the club parted company midway through last week.
Harris said the Cavaliers, much like in the first four rounds, could not convert their chances.
“I couldn’t fault the commitment of the players, we had a fair amount of the play but we just conceded two soft goals before half time, not a good time to concede goals. I made a couple of changes at half time, but we just couldn’t finish those chances,” he said.
The stand-in coach praised two of his more experienced campaigners at the club. “I thought Andy Vargas played particularly well yesterday, Jeff Fleming gave a great deal of commitment, those two were the better performers that we had.”
Harris said he had the club’s support for his stint in charge of the senior side; how long he will be the main man for the Cavaliers is unknown.
“It’s a bit of a hot potato (the coaching position), and they’re big shoes to fill with Peter Ollerton having gone. I was sorry to see him go because I know Olly and I’ve worked with him for a long time. In a way, it’s a week-to-week proposition and the club is very supportive, as far as how long the (coaching) term goes for, we’ll just have to see what happens. In the mix of that are results as well. At the moment, it’s a little bit of a baptism of fire.”
Magic captain Pece Siveski was delighted with his team’s ability to score, after a notable dry spell for the reigning premiers in the first month of the season.“I’m very happy, relieved in one way as well. Tough game, both teams were under pressure, under stress as well. They haven’t got a coach at the moment. We fought well, showed a lot of commitment I thought, and played for the club, and everyone gave 100 per cent, even a couple of young boys who stepped in, it was probably their second game of their careers. We finally scored.”
Siveski said the two boys having their second start each respectively performed admirably.
In round six, Green Gully take on Bentleigh Greens on 9 April, while the Magic face Dandenong Thunder on 10 April.
