Truganina continued its late-season resurgence with a come-from-behind 3-1 win over local rivals Point Cook in the FFV men’s state league 4 at Saltwater Reserve on Saturday.
The Hornets went into the game as underdogs, and were living up to the tag when they conceded an early goal to red-hot Jets striker Matthew Lawtey, who has scored in four of the past five games.
But the Hornets recovered and went on to win the game, with goals to Musa Kamara, Martin Ferrer and Youssef Osman.
Hornets’ coach Sergio Lunedei told Star Weekly his team is one of the form sides in the competition.
“If we had’ve started the season in round 12, we’d be first on the ladder,” he said.
“We’ve got 10 points in five games, so it means we’re starting to play a bit better and showing that we are a good team.
“But, unfortunately, we just had a bad start to the season.”
This was the game Truganina marked in the calendar as a must-win.
The neighbouring Jets have won the past two local derbies and it was time to get one back.
“There’s a rivalry between our clubs,” Lunedei said.
“They didn’t like the fact we beat them 6-1 last year, but they won once last year and earlier this year as well, so we really wanted to win this game.
“We played a pretty good game,” he said.
“I can’t complain about the boys, that’s for sure.”
Point Cook has been one of the most damaging attacking sides in the competition this season.
But a rock-solid Hornets defence, led by centre backs Matt Harvey and Nathan Warrington and wing backs William Adarkwah and Blake D’Antino, limited the impact.
There was also praise for the job Mason Brown did in midfield, and the tireless work of Ferrer and Kamara up front.
“In every part of the pitch, the players did the job I wanted them to do,” Lunedei said.
“Efficient, straight-to-the-point and without risking much.”
Truganina has moved up to eighth on the ladder – six points clear of the rel
egation zone.
The Hornets seem to have moved on from their worries about the drop zone and focused on climbing even further up the ladder, starting with an upset over fourth-placed Sebastopol Vikings at Arndell Park Reserve this Saturday.
“I’m pretty confident we can do the same thing to Sebastopol as we did to Point Cook,” Lunedei said.
Point Cook’s promotion dream might have been shattered with the loss to the Hornets.
The Jets have fallen to sixth, seven points behind second-placed Surf Coast.
In state league 2, Hoppers Crossing could only manage a 1-1 draw with Corio, which was counterproductive to both sides’ ambitions of promotion.
The Reds are now nine points behind second-placed Essendon Royals and virtually out of the promotion race.
In NPL2, Werribee City pole-axed Moreland City 5-1 at Galvin Park on Saturday.
Shaun Weaver scored a double for the Bees, while Ben Mammone, Cameron Williams and Jonathan Voulgaris joined in with goals in the rout.
