Another slow start confined Whittlesea Ranges to a 4-2 defeat against Avondale Heights in the National Premier Leagues Victoria on Saturday afternoon.
Ranges were lethargic from the start against the might of Avondale and they trailed 2-0 at half-time after struggling to make any sort of impact in attack.
A more committed performance in the second half saw the Ranges score twice, through Ahmet Turer and Stjepan Trbuhovich, but they were unable to prevent Avondale scoring two more of its own.
Oleksiy Khrapko hit the back of the net twice for the Heights, with Jason Principato and Andrew Le Page scoring once each.
The loss dropped the Ranges to 10th on the NPL1 table, with a win, two losses and a draw.
Secretary Sergio Costanzo said it was a case of “same old, same old”.
“It was very disappointing but again it comes down to youthful inexperience,” he said.
“We had a very slow start again.
“The coach had a nice chat to the players in the rooms at half-time and we had a better second half but it all comes down to the same thing, inexperience.”
With three of its most experienced players missing the Ranges were on the back foot from the beginning but Costanzo said the second half had given the group confidence.
“Long term it’s a result that we’ll learn from so we’re not too stressed,” he said.
“We do have a very youthful team and with that comes fitness and endurance and that’s what we got going in the second half.
“We identified that we were running teams down in the second halves of games and that’s exactly what happened.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get the result so, hopefully, we can get our players starting in the first half instead of the second.”
It was an action-packed second half at De Chene Reserve as Moreland Zebras took on Sunshine George Cross. It was 0-0 at half-time but seven goals were scored in the second, George Cross winning 4-3. Simon Tolli, Evan Batsis and Scott Robson were the scorers for the Zebras.
Bundoora United broke through for its first win of the Women’s Premier League season, thrashing Heidelberg United 5-1. The win moved United to third on the table, one point behind South Melbourne.
