By ADEM SARICAOGLU
WERRIBEE City was handed a lesson on the perils of top flight Victorian soccer in its National Premier Leagues debut on Sunday.
The Bees travelled the Ring Road to face the Cavaliers of Green Gully but were left stung after going down 4-0 courtesy of two goals either side of the break.
Dangerous playmaker Osagie Ederaro capitalised on the Cavaliers’ possession dominance with the opener in the 37th minute, before Mathew Sanders doubled the buffer two minutes later.
Eleven minutes into the second half Sanders was on hand again to make it 3-0, before Brent Fisher finished the job from the edge of the box to complete the 4-0 romp.
Manager and technical director Nino Ragusa was philosophical after the game, telling Star his young charges learned the hard way just how difficult life in the NPL will be this year.
“They have been warned and now reality has sunk in,” Ragusa said.
“I was happy for 30 or 35 minutes but we’ve really got to find a massive improvement right across the board.
“Against quality teams – and every team’s a quality team in this division – if we don’t nail it for more than 30 minutes, we’re going to get some nasty results.”
City is no stranger to the hazards of promotion having come from the FFV’s third tier competition in recent years.
While Ragusa acknowledged the abundance of youth in his squad, he admitted it will take a little bit of time for his Bees to establish themselves in the NPL.
“It was the same as two years ago when we jumped into first division. In the first four or five weeks the results were poor but they will learn from it – that’s the harsh reality,” Ragusa said.
“Defensively we were fine in the first 30 minutes. It’s when you cop the goal and young heads collapse – we need to learn how to cope with that.
“We made changes but they read your game so well, so we’re really going to have to learn to be far better technically and far more unpredictable.”
Werribee City will play Oakleigh in the Dockerty Cup this Sunday before hosting Hume City in round two of the National Premier Leagues competition at Galvin Park.
