Lance Jenkinson
It was only for 90 minutes, but Werribee City provided its fans with a welcome distraction from what is going on in the world around them.
Of course, the coronavirus pandemic has reached all corners of the globe, but few countries have been harder hit so far than Italy.
With Werribee City formed by a group of Italian immigrants in the 1960s, and still having a strong Italian presence through the Italian Sports Club of Werribee, these are trying times for many involved with the club.
For those in attendance on Saturday, the Bees goal-fest was a little bit of joy to distract from the concerns.
You would have run out of fingers trying to keep up with Werribee City’s scoring power in its annihilation of Western Suburbs.
From a football point of view, Bees coach Sergio Sabbadini warned against getting too excited about the 11-0 thrashing.
He understands where both sides are at in terms of their development, with Werribee City a contender for the NPL 2 title and Western Suburbs embarking on a rebuild in state league 2.
“You’ve got to keep it in perspective I suppose,” Sabbadini said.
“The boys are playing pretty well at the moment, so we’re looking forward to a good start to the NPL season.
“We spoke about it at half-time, about sticking to the same systems that we’re trying to adopt.
“They responded really well.
“They kept going and scored a bag full of goals.”
The sharpness of Werribee City in front of goal was a sight to behold.
Two hat-tricks were scored for the Bees in the rout with Trevor Ssemakula and Ryu Yamagishi serving up triple treats.
Conor Evans chimed in with a double, while new captain and central midfielder Matteo Ballan, brought in from Bulleen, and Nemanja Spasojevic scored. An own goal was the icing on the cake.
“The pleasing thing was they were so clinical in front of goal,” Sabbadini said.
Ssemakula, Yamagishi and Evans had been standouts over pre-season for the Bees, so Sabbadini was pleased to see it translate into good match-day form.
“All three of them had very good pre-seasons,” he said.
“It doesn’t surprise me that they score so many goals.
“They’ve worked hard throughout the pre-season, as all of them have actually.”
With the game all but won, Werribee City gave teenage goalkeeper Charlie Emery a stint in goal in the second half.
It was selfless starting goalkeeper Nikola Kostadinoski who got in the ear of Sabbadini about giving Emery a shot.
“Nikola whispered to me at half-time, are you putting Charlie on?” Sabbadini said.
“He was quite happy with him getting the chance.
“Nikola’s one of the team leaders this year and he’s a good club person.”
While a little raw, Emery is seen as a top goalkeeping prospect for Werribee City.
He managed to keep the clean sheet going through the second half.
“He’s an up-and-coming keeper, a tall lad and a great kid,” Sabbadini said.
“He’s got a good future ahead of him.”
Werribee City will begin its NPL 2 season away to Kingston City on Monday night.
