There are days when newly promoted Hoppers Crossing is seemingly battling out of its weight division in division 2 of Football Federation Victoria’s state league, only for its incredible will to win to see it through.
Saturday was one of those days for the Reds, when Moreland United appeared superior on paper but their willingness to stay the course rewarded Hoppers with a memorable 3-2 win at a slippery Grange Reserve.
“I was just so proud of them,” Reds coach Steve Iosifidis told
Star Weekly. “It was all about their mental toughness to fight it out.
“The last 20 minutes we were just under the pump. The team we played against were pretty decent and they had clear-cut chances to finish the game.
“But, credit to our boys, they showed good character to fight right to the very end.”
Iosifidis feared for his side late in the game when United peppered goalkeeper Kieran Sharratt only to be denied time and again.
“Our keeper had an outstanding game,” Iosifidis said. “He was partly to blame for the first goal but made critical saves in the second half.”
The man who owned the match-winning moment was striker John Little, who didn’t get to the ground by kick-off because of work commitments and had to start on the bench.
But once into the action, he headed the winning goal in second-half stoppage time to take the Reds to second on the ladder.
“There’s a bit of a buzz around the clubrooms at the moment but we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves,” Iosifidis said.
Injury-ravaged Alister Smart also found the back of the net,as did Daniel Sweeney, who also provided the cross for Little’s goal.
