By ADEM SARICAOGLU
WESTERN Suburbs will enter the transfer market in search of a striker after succumbing to its third consecutive loss over the weekend.
Suburbs has only scored one goal since its 3-0 drubbing of Fawkner Blues early last month, which was the last appearance of striker Simon Kelly, who has gone back to Ireland.
Assistant coach Paul Agathouli said the squad was “gutted” after going down 2-0 to Altona Magic in their State League One clash at Ralph Reserve on Sunday.
However with the transfer window opening this week, Agathouli revealed no-one’s place in the squad was under threat, despite conceding the club will be looking to sign a striker to fill the void left by Kelly.
“We’re thereabouts, but not good enough to be in the top two or three,” Agathouli said.
“We’re not the type of coaching staff that’ll make wholesale changes and drop five or six boys, and to be honest we’re not looking to bring in many players in the window – just one or two to replace Simon at striker.
“We’ll stick by our boys and they’ve put in the hard work since December and we’re going to reward them, unlike some other clubs who are going to sign five or six boys,” he said.
“We reward our boys and we win together and lose together.”
Suburbs’ lack of quality up front again proved costly on Sunday in what was, for the most part, a relatively even game.
Agathouli said Kelly’s departure has impacted on his squad’s confidence in the past three games.
“We relied a lot on Simon and I think some other players need to step up and lead the team through,” he said.
“Obviously our strength has been our back line this year, that’s been evident.
“We’ve kept five clean sheets out of 11 games now but we just haven’t been creating any chances to score goals.
“We need the leaders to stand tall.”
Magic’s Oleksiy Khrapko struck first late in the first half courtesy of a penalty on Sunday, before Festim Elmazi finished the job shortly before the final whistle.
“We just didn’t have enough penetration (and) didn’t look dangerous enough to score goals,” Agathouli said.
Sixth-placed Western Suburbs will be hoping to bounce back this Saturday on the road against Eastern Lions.
