Tara Murray
Whittlesea United will hold its head up high despite exiting the knockout Australia Cup on Tuesday night.
United, one of three state league sides in the seventh round, put up a brave fight against Green Gully, but they fell short, losing 4-0.
United senior assistant coach Nabi Tuna said the game was the biggest in the club’s history.
“It was our best cup run and for a community club like this, it doesn’t come along often,” he said.
“To play on a night like that, was pretty good.
“It was the biggest stage in our history. We’ve had big games to get us from state league 3 to 2 and 1, but not like this.”
The Cavaliers opened the scoring early in the first half, before the game got turned on its head in the 34th minute.
A scuffle led to two United players, Ahmet Turer and Baran Asir, receiving red cards, leaving them with nine men.
They would finish the game with just eight, when Baki Efe was sent from the field in the dying minutes after receiving a second yellow card.
Tuna said the call to send the two players made a massive difference to the game.
“We thought we took it to them for the first 35 minutes and then we got an unfortunate call and had two players sent off in one hit which is unheard of,” he said.
“The boys put in a great effort to stay in the game. To finish 4-0 is pretty respectable considering we were two men down and playing a team four grades higher.”
Tuna said he believed the vibe and the big crowd had been behind the club’s cup success.
He said the players loved midweek night games, which seemed to attract the big crowds.
“They got a real buzz out of the games,” he said.
“We had a never die attitude. We were down 1-0 in our first game and won on the penalties and in the second game we did the same thing.
“The third game we scored a goal late to force extra time. Every game was a big fight. The performances were a thank you to the fans who came out to watch.
With their cup run finished, attention now remains solely on the state league 1 north-west season.
Entering the weekend’s match against Sydenham Park, United is sitting ninth with just three wins.
Tuna said they always expected a tough state league season.
“We got off to a great start with a 5-0 win and then we had a tough draw,” he said.
“The results then didn’t go our way and we were unlucky not to have got some more points.
“It’s a tough league and we’re a real community club, trying to compete with the top sides.”
Tuna said the focus for the back half of the season was to ensure they stay in the top state league competition.
He said with a young side, they will only be better for the experience.
“We’re going alright if we can manage to stay in the league and then we will regroup,” he said.
“If we look at the last few seasons, we need six more points from 10 games to ensure that we stay up.
“With the playing group we have, we’re confident we can do that, but it’s not going to be easy.”
