There were high fives all round at Hoppers Crossing after a 5-0 rout of Heidelberg Stars at Grange Reserve on Saturday.
The newly promoted Reds have rocketed to second on the state league 2 north-west ladder, with coach Steve Iosifidis believing it’s good for the psyche of his team to have early success.
“There’s a bit of belief starting to creep in that we’re going to be quite competitive this year,” he said.
Coming off an emotion-charged win over Altona City, those involved with Hoppers Crossing held some fears of a letdown.
Those fears were put to rest early when striker John Little scored after 10 minutes and new recruit Matko Budimir followed soon after with a cracking goal to give the Reds a two-goal lead at half-time.
“I was a little bit worried after last week’s rival win; sometimes a bit of complacency kicks in,” Iosifidis said. “The boys showed good form and good character to get up again.”
Hoppers Crossing wasted a couple of early chances in the second half to kill off the Stars.
Daniel Sweeney, thrust forward in place of Liam McDermott, scored a third in the 65th minutes to make the home side feel comfortable.
“Luckily we got the third and the floodgates opened,” Iosifidis said.
It quickly turned into the Sweeney show, with the makeshift forward completing a hat-trick in the space of 22 minutes.
“When he turns it on, he really turns it on,” Iosifidis said. “He was very good today – he started off on the left and I ended up putting him up front.”
Budimir proved his worth to Hoppers Crossing with a stunning debut. The former Werribee City utility bobbed up in a number of different areas on the park and added value to the team.
The Reds will travel to Corio on Saturday with their tails up on the back of three consecutive wins.
Corio, relegated from state league 1 last season and with ambitions of a quick return, will be a tough nut to crack.
“It’s always tough playing those sorts of teams because they’ve always got something to prove,” Iosifidis said.
“They wouldn’t have liked being relegated and absolutely they’ll be trying to send a message to the rest of the league to say, ‘We’re going straight back up’.”
In state league 4 west, Point Cook has moved up to fourth after a 3-1 win over Altona North at Saltwater Reserve. The Jets scored all three goals in the first half through Zac Osborne, James Varsamakis and Kyle Caruana.
Truganina Hornets went down 3-2 to Spring Hills on Saturday night at Springside Recreation Reserve. Trailing 2-0 at half-time, the Hornets fought hard to get back into the contest through goals to Musa Kamara and Colin Habgood, but the hosts did enough to earn the three points.
Truganina and Point Cook will meet in a derby at Arndell Park Reserve on Saturday at 3pm.
