It was a tale of two halves for Werribee City – one bad, one good.
The Bees sorted themselves out in time to secure a come-from-behind 4-2 win over Nunawading City in the NPL2 west at Mahoneys Reserve on Sunday.
“We found ourselves behind at half-time, but we managed to work our way out of it, which was good,” Bees coach Sergio Sabbadini told Star Weekly.
“Our pre-game plan wasn’t carried out in the first half … it was a lot better in the second half.
“Once we scored our equaliser, we got on top, but they still pressured us all game.”
Promotion has long been an after-thought for the Bees, but they are still striving to pick up every point possible. Sunday’s win was their third in a row.
Sabbadini revealed that the new game-plan he rolled out for the first 45 minutes against Nunawading City did not have the desired effect. So he reverted to the style that had been successful in recent weeks, a move that paid dividends.
“We’ve been working on a couple of game-plans and today was one of the newer ones we started with, but it wasn’t executed properly,” Sabbadini said.
“That’s why we reverted back to the other one and the second half was a lot better.”
Sabbadini took over as coach in April and it has been a kind of try-before-you-buy situation for he and Werribee City.
Both parties must be enjoying the ride at the moment.
“We’ve sort of jumped into the deep end starting in the middle of the season,” Sabbadini said. “It does look good for next year. I’m looking forward to trying to build something here.”
Shaun Weaver has been a key player in the second half of Werribee City’s season.
The Bees’ striker fired in a double to take his tally to seven goals in nine games.
“He never gives up,” Sabbadini said. “He wears his heart on his sleeve, gives everything and expects everyone else to give everything as well.
Damien Peters was the game changer for the Bees. The midfield general was calm under pressure while his teammates were struggling in the first half.
“Everyone was sort of treating it like a hot potato in the first half but he calmed everyone down and kept possession, circulated it and was quite good,” Sabbadini said. “He got our momentum going.”
Werribee City’s win streak will come under pressure on Sunday when east conference ladder leader Dandenong Thunder arrives at Galvin Park.
