Hume City’s hopes of taking home some silverware this season suffered its first blow with the club knocked out of the Dockerty Cup semi-finals on Wednesday night.
City has made the finals of the Dockerty Cup, National Premier League and FFA Cup the past two years and was keen to go further this year.
But it was a disappointing performance against Heidelberg United on Wednesday. The 5-0 loss is the third time in as many years that City has been knocked out of the Dockerty Cup in the semi-finals.
Coach Ufuk Kubilayhan said they were beaten by a better team.
“Whatever we tried it didn’t work,” he said.
“From a tactical, coaching and individual aspect.
“Unfortunately it happens … it would have been history if we had made it through.”
Compounding the loss was an ankle injury to skipper Nick Hegarty which will rule him out for three to four weeks.
City had already lost James McGarry earlier in the week, when the club and player parted ways. McGarry had been one of City’s best this year.
Kubilayhan, who has been coach for a month, said it had been a few challenging weeks, coinciding with the end of the transfer period.
“I guess when there has been so many different personnel coming and going, it’s been hard.
“I have tried to readjust a few things to try and get the consistency we need going forward.”
City didn’t have long to recover, with a round 19 NPL clash against Bulleen Lions on Saturday.
It was unable to make the most of its opportunities, losing 2-1. Atilla Ofli was the goalscorer for City.
Despite the loss, Kubilayhan said it was a much better performance than on Wednesday night.
“I was happy with the performance,” he said.
“We hit the bar and had some good chances. Towards the end of the second half we dominated.
“We could have easily come away with three points, but came away with none.”
Kubilayhan said there was some positive signs out of the match with Danny Kim and Nick Panetta taking on more prominent roles in the absence of McGarry and Hegarty.
City has slipped outside the top six. It’s next match is against Port Melbourne Sharks on Friday night.
City will also find out its next FFA Cup opponent this week. It is one of only 32 teams left in the national competition.
This round A-League sides are introduced to the competition.
Melbourne Victory has knocked Hume City out the past two years.
Kubilayhan said getting a home match would be a huge advantage.
“It’s an exciting time. I’m looking forward to it.”
Meanwhile in NPL2, Whittlesea Ranges lost 2-0 to Werribee City in their clash last Sunday afternoon.
City scored twice in the second half to seal victory.
