By Lance Jenkinson
Werribee City has been a giant tease in National Premier League 2 west soccer this season.
The Bees have turned heads when they have displayed their full potential against some of the better sides in the competition.
But just as they were beginning to be taken seriously in the promotion conversation, they have blown it.
What looked on paper to be their easiest four-game stretch has turned into a nightmare for Bees coach Sergio Sabbadini and his players.
“If we can’t beat the teams below us, we don’t deserve to go up and we’ve struggled with that the past month,” Sabbadini said.
“We’ve lost to the bottom side, the second bottom side and now we’ve lost to the eighth-placed team.
“It’s no point beating the top sides and then losing to the bottom sides.”
It would have been no surprise if Werribee City had reaped the maximum 12 points from its past four games to move into the promotion hunt.
But the Bees could manage only three points in that span – winning once and losing three.
They found a new way to let one slip in a 2-1 loss to Whittlesea Ranges at Epping Stadium on Saturday.
The Bees trailed for most of the game, but were given a lifeline when Whittlesea’s Christopher Dib scored an own goal.
Instead of going on to challenge for the three points, Werribee City conceded a minute later in circumstances that did not impress Sabbadini.
“We had about six really good chances to score throughout the game and didn’t convert,” he said. “Then we finally scored the equaliser and we were making plans on the bench to try to find a way to win the game.
“They put in what should have been a harmless cross, which we failed to clear and their guy [Anthony Ramzy] managed to score.”
It was a frustrating end for Werribee City, which could have stayed alive in the top two hunt given the way results fell at the weekend.
But the Bees are no more than a mathematical chance now with four games to go and a 10-point gap to bridge on second-placed St Albans Saints.
The Bees will need a miracle from here.
The past month has shone a revealing light on why Werribee City is not yet ready to be a contender.
“This game showed up our frailties,” Sabbadini said.
“We’ve struggled to have a consistent goalscorer at one end and we cough up cheap goals at the other. Our actual game plan is good, the way we’re playing is quite good, we’re one of the only teams that actually tries to play football, but at the end of the day it has counted for nothing.
“We’ve probably got to get a different balance and we probably need a couple of players, too.”
Werribee City, sitting fifth on the ladder, will face sixth-placed Brunswick City in consecutive weeks.
The two sides will meet in a catch-up game for their postponed round seven clash at Galvin Park this Saturday, then square off again a week later at Dunstan Reserve.
Sabbadini concedes his team’s promotion hopes are likely gone, but he expects the Bees to end the season on a high note.
“We still want to win our last four games,” he said.
“It’s been a better season than last year and it will give us something to build with for next year.”
