By Tara Murray
It was a winning start to a new era for Whittlesea United in the Victorian Premier League 2.
Playing in the VPL-National Premier League tiers for the first time, everything is new for the club and many involved.
Whittlesea kicked off its season on Friday night against Werribee City, which had come down from VPL1 after being relegated.
It would be a dominant performance with Whittlesea winning 2-0.
Whittlesea coach Andrew Marth said it was a big moment for the club. Marth is one person at the club who has been involved in the higher levels.
“It was good for the club,” he said. “They are excited from where they started out in division 4 many years ago.
“This is new ground for them. I thought they handled it really well.”
The match was played at Epping Stadium, which is set to host all of Whittlesea games this season.
Marth said it was great to have access to a facility like that.
“It’s a little bit run down, but it’s a lot better than where we are,” he said. “We’re trying to get a session for training each week.”
Marth was happy with how the group came together on the pitch for their first match.
Whittlesea took an early lead and never looked back against the Bees.
“We scored in the first 10 minutes,” he said. “We should have been four or five goals up in the end.
“We had some clean cut chances. It was a really good performance.”
Marth said after a strong pre-season he’d been left with some selection headaches for the team that starts and the wider match day squad.
He said they had put together a really good squad and he was happy with how things were tracking.
Whittlesea will face Boroondara-Carey Express in round two on Friday night.
It will be a new challenge for Whittlesea.
“They got beaten by Goulburn Valley 1-0,” Marth said. “I don’t know much about them.
“Every game will be tough.”
In the NPL competition, Hume City suffered a 2-1 loss to Preston Lions on Saturday night.
Michael Domfeh came off the bench in Hume debut and was his side’s goal scorer.
