Werribee City’s hot form unravelled in the space of 24 insipid minutes on Saturday.
The Bees had been one of the hottest teams in Football Federation Victoria’s NPL2 west before the 2-1 away loss to Springvale White Eagles which ended a five-game unbeaten run.
Making it harder to swallow for Bees coach Sergio Sabbadini is that his side dominated play for the final 65 minutes, only for their slow start to come back to haunt them.
“Basically, we played a really bad 24 minutes, probably the worst we’ve played all year,” Sabbadini told Star Weekly.
“We just didn’t follow our normal game plan and were running around like we didn’t know what we were doing for 24 minutes.
“They scored two goals and then we woke up and started playing.
“We probably did dominate possession after that.”
The Bees got a consolation goal through Domenic Marafioti in the 88th minute.
Marafioti was fouled in the box and received a penalty kick, which he stepped up and slotted home.
It was too little too late for the Bees, who lost for the first time since May 8.
“You get a bit greedy I guess because we hadn’t lost in five weeks,” Sabbadini said.
“But this was a game we should’ve at least drawn and there’s no way in the world we should’ve lost to a team like that.
“We’re learning as a group and it will all come together, but we’ve only been together for, basically, nine weeks, so it’s to be expected.”
Sabbadini praised captain Angus Martin for providing sound on-field guidance for Werribee City since his arrival.
He said recruits Shaun Weaver and Zach Ahmad had fitted in well, while Jonathan Voulgaris was one of the standouts of the established players for his confidence on the ball from the wide positions.
The Bees return home for a clash with east conference strugglers Murray United on Sunday.
