Whittlesea Ranges are hoping this is the start of something new in the FV state league 1 north-west competition.
It’s been a tough few seasons which has seen the club drop down from the National Premier League into the state league.
New coach Safi Ayoush said the club was keen to turn things around not only on field, but also off field.
“We want to be fighting for promotion,” he said. “We’re putting in the hard work and want to do something this year.
“There’s an opportunity for a lot of boys who were waiting for the older players to retire, to get their opportunities.
“The most important thing though is bringing back the culture to the club.”
Early signs have been good for the Ranges with 300-400 people turning up for their Australia Cup match.
Ayoush said they had 40-50 kids singing the song with them after the game which was really exciting.
“The last three to four years we’ve been struggling and we’ve been changing coaches,” he said.
“We wanted to try and start the year positive and seeing these young kids getting the seniors is exciting.
“They are looking up to them and they will be the senior players of the future.”
Ayoush said they had kept 70 per cent of last season’s list.
He said they wanted to build a squad for the long term with the young group of players that they have.
“We’re working on strategy not just to win games, but for the long term,” he said.
“Most of our players are under-22. Our oldest is 25-26 and that is our captain Dylan Bresolin.
“We wanted to be able to play our own players. We got some young boys from outside the NPL and we’ve given the opportunity to four visa players, who are young as well.
“The team is looking good.”
The Ranges had their first official match in the third round of the Australia Cup.
The Ranges put out a strong performance, beating Endeavour United 9-0.
Sedat Abdullah scored five goals in the win.
Ayoush said the most pleasing thing about the result was how the side went about it. He said they played some good team football for 90 minutes.
Sixteen-year-old Stefano Giusti had his senior debut for the side, in good signs for the future.
Ayoush said they were aiming high in both the state league and Australia Cup competitions.
“Anything is possible when you work together.”
Tara Murray
