With every failed venture forward on Saturday, Truganina Hornets coach Sergio Lunedei could sense his team’s promotion chances dwindling.
The Hornets’ ineptitude in front of goal, leading to a shock 1-0 loss to bottom-half side Laverton in Football Federation Victoria men’s state league 4 west at Arndell Park Reserve, has taken their destiny out of their hands.
The consequences of a disastrous night in front of their home fans was felt immediately, with the Hornets joined on 36 points by the third-placed Altona North.
The kick in the guts for the Hornets is that North has an extra game to play and accumulate points over the final two rounds, due to the Hornets having the bye in the last round.
Lunedei was shattered by the outcome against Laverton.
He saw that game as a must-win and believes the Hornets are at long odds to appear in the promotion play-off now.
“If we win against Spring Hills and Altona North loses the next two games, which I don’t believe will happen, we might have a chance,” Lunedei said.
“I don’t believe in that much of a miracle. If you don’t do it on your own, no one else is going to do it for you.
“For me, we’ll be in state league 4 next year.”
It was the Hornets’ inability to make the most of their chances that had Lunedei “fuming” on Saturday night.
They created a swag of scoring opportunities, only to be denied time and again.
Laverton’s performance was not pretty, but it was effective.
“We had at least 10 clear chances, but we didn’t even put one away, so you deserve to lose,” Lunedei said.
“Laverton didn’t do much – they probably had one chance, but they put it away.
“The winners are always right, the losers can only find excuses.
“You can be angry, but that’s how it is. We’ve lost our chance.”
Truganina has not coped well without forward Gabriele Di Fiore.
Di Fiore was on fire with eight goals in five games, and the Hornets were one of the most potent teams in the league, until the front
man went down with a season-ending knee injury.
“That’s had a massive impact,” Lunedei said. “We’ve had to try and change our way of playing.
“With Gabriele, he’s the big man up front, holds the ball up and helps out with the system that we had in place.
“Losing him with injury, we had to replace him and modify our game.
“We’re creating a lot of chances, but we just don’t put them away.”
It was also a dark day for Hoppers Crossing in men’s state league 1, its 3-0 loss to North Sunshine Eagles ensured relegation.
Goals to Dimitri Fokianos and James Varsamakis were not enough for Point Cook in a 3-2 defeat to Williamstown.
In the NPL, Werribee City made it two wins in a week over Brunswick City, completing the double with a 3-1 win away at Dunstan Reserve on Saturday.
Three goals in six first-half minutes through Trevor Ssemakula, Jake Butler and Brad Murray did the trick for the Bees.
