Hoppers Crossing’s winning start to the season continued with a convincing win against Melton Phoenix in the FFV state league 4 west competition on Saturday.
Both teams entered the game undefeated, but the Reds were too strong at home, winning 4-0.
“We expected Melton to play well as it’s one of the strongest competitors in the competition,” said club president Steve Lambrakakis. “We’re expecting to win every game and in this one we got a convincing win.”
He said the most pleasing aspect was keeping the Phoenix scoreless.
“We kept a clean sheet first time this year. In the opening game we conceded two goals and one in our second game.”
Lambrakakis said he was pleased with how the team reacted to the injury to Laurent Honore in the game’s opening 15 minutes.
“I’m unsure what he has done. He’s our centre half back so to lose him affects our defensive end.
“We had to drop one of our midfielders back and brought a midfielder off the bench. But everyone played their role.’’
Alister Smart and Khalil Assaad each scored two goals.
Lambrakakis said Shane Di Gioacchino was the best on ground in what, he said, was his best game for the club.
“He caused havoc down the right hand side of the pitch and was involved in three of the four goals.”
The win puts the Reds on top of the ladder heading into the Easter break, which had been far from Lambrakakis’s thinking.
“We hadn’t thought about the break until after the game. We have had issues with our pitch so I was worried about making sure it was up for this week’s game.”
