Whittlesea Ranges seem to have come out the other side of a mid-season slump, showing they can be real contenders in the National Premier League’s 2 west.
After struggling with injuries and form for several weeks, the Ranges have three wins and a draw in their past four matches after victory against Kingston City on Saturday.
The Ranges opened the scoring through Atila Ofli, but City drew level before half-time,
From there, it was usual suspect Ofli who found the back of the net, twice, to seal the win.
Ranges’ coach Vinko Bulijubasic said a real team effort got them the three points.
“I thought we deservedly had the lead in the first half,” he said. “We dominated the first 20 minutes, but after
that it was a pretty even first half. I had the feeling at half-time we would finish strongly as that’s what we’ve done all season.”
Bulijubasic said Ofli had been played in a different role from his norm this season. Ofli has been the standout goal-scorer in the competition, with 27 so far.
“He’s played more of a free role,” Bulijubasic said.
“His work ethic when he didn’t have the ball was fantastic on Saturday.
“We know he will be marked out there, so we worked him around and had him play on the left, right and in the centre to confuse them.”
The win cements the Ranges’ spot atop the ladder as they look to build in the last 10 weeks of the season.
Bulijubasic said players returning from injury had given the side more depth as had signing four players – Thomas Barforosh, Tedros Yabio, Andrew Milicevic and Nick Tzoulis – during the transfer window. “I said to the club we need more depth,” the coach said.
“I felt we had a strong 11 on the park and bench players but were missing the extra depth on the fringe.
“There’s still 10 weeks to go, and we’re taking it one week at a time. We just need to keep winning.”
In NPL, Hume City produced its best performance of the season, a 6-0 drubbing of Melbourne Victory.
The game was all but over at half-time, with Craig Carley, Petar Franjic, Nick Hegarty and Kristian Trajceski scoring in the opening half.
Tom Cahill joined the party early in the second half before Carley made it 6-0 with his second in the 63rd minute.
