New Hume City coach Ufuk Kubilayhan didn’t have long to settle into the role but has made his mark early.
Appointed last Monday, Kubilayhan took the reins on Tuesday night as Hume set its sights on qualifying for the national stage of the FFA Cup for a third straight year.
Kubilayhan said he was happy with what he saw first-up from his side in a 4-0 win against Moreland City.
“Moreland City came at us early and were very dangerous,” he said.
“Our team did respond … the confidence we came out with after half-time was good and we dominated and played good transition.”
Kubilayhan’s arrival comes as the club reshuffles it’s coaching panel. Dean Hennessey, who was overseeing the side in a technical manager role has returned to the technical director role.
Hennessey will step back from a lot of the day to day tasks with the senior team and focus more on running the club’s junior program.
David Chick now takes on the role of senior assistant coach.
Kubilayhan said having a stable coaching group behind him made the coaching transition so much easier. And he has a working knowledge of the club.
“I spent two years at Hume coaching their under-15s and under-16s and we won championships back-to-back in 2014-15.
“I went overseas and coached in Europe before coming back to Australia.
“Hume approached me [about taking over the senior coaching role] and I was happy to take on the role with a club with such high stature.”
Kubilayhan was also at the club when Hume made it the last four of the FFA Cup competition in 2015, so knows the excitement that comes with making the last 32 teams in the country.
“It’s important for clubs from state league to NPL to have that goal to work towards. It’s very exciting.”
Last week’s win also seals a semi-final spot in the Dockerty Cup, and Hume is keen to move past the semi-finals for the first time.
It was a short break between games for Hume, they were back in NPL action on Saturday night and defeated St Albans 2-1.
Jayden Prasad opened the scoring in the first half, before Daniel Clark doubled the lead in the 53rd minute. A penalty let St Albans get one back in the 59th minute, but it couldn’t find an equaliser.
Kubilayhan said improved consistency would be one area Hume players would focus on.
In the five games before Kubilayhan took over, Hume had three losses and two draws.
“Consistency is an issue I’ve looked at watching the previous games,” he said.
“Injuries have contributed to that. We’re trying to get it right and to get consistent results in the games ahead of us.”
He said they were also looking at adding a couple more players during the transfer period.
“We’re looking at a few options to strength the squad going forward.”
