Despite not meeting its expectations, Hume City considers the inaugural National Premier League season a positive for the club.
After setting a target to make the top three, City finished fifth with a 12-2-11 record.
Coach Louie Acevski said an inability to regularly get his best team on the park was the main reason for falling short.
“We had a lot of injuries, players trialing for overseas clubs and others going to the World Cup.
“We didn’t have a lot of consistency in the team we put out, but the way things have panned out I’d say the season is a positive.
“Bentleigh Greens [third] and Heidelberg United [fourth] also finished the season with 12 wins, but our losses saw us miss the top three.”
Acevski said injuries to captain Nick Hegarty and Shane Rexhepi had hurt the side badly.
“Nick missed 14-15 weeks and you don’t just miss him, you miss his leadership. He’s not only our best player, he’s the best player in the league.
“Shane is our vice-captain and he missed eight or nine weeks. That’s a huge amount of time without two of your leaders.”
Acevski said the highlight for him was the development of younger players.
“Normally you can give one of two of the young boys an opportunity, but six or seven have come through this year,” he said.
“Matthew Hennessey, Jeremy Walker and Ilhan Altuntas are all between 16 and 21 and have big futures.”
Acevski said planning was already under way for next season.
“I believe the majority of players will stay,” he said. “A couple of the boys are on the A-League radar and we won’t stand in the way of that. We need to bring in another five quality footballers.”
City lost 1-0 to Northcote City in its final match of the season at Broadmeadows Valley Park on Sunday.
Neither side had many scoring opportunities and a goal by Wade Dekker with 15 minutes to go was the difference.
Hegarty and Rexhepi both had chances to equalise in the dying minutes, but neither was able to take it.
