Tara Murray
Caroline Springs George Cross pulled off a miracle to upset Western United in the Victorian Premier League 1 competition on Saturday night.
With United leading 2-0 at the 80 minute mark, it seemed it would be on track for a straightforward win as it continues to press its promotion claims.
The Georgies then scored three goals in six minutes to take the lead and ultimately the win, 3-2.
Georgies’ coach Eric Vassiliadis said he’d been on the opposite side of a result like that, but had never coached one.
“It was definitely more reward for the hard work that they’ve put in during the last month,” he said.
“It’s been an interrupted season for us and we’ve struggled to get our best team available to play.
“Over the last month we have been able to do that. Not only are we seeing that in our performances, we’re seeing some reward for our performances.”
He said they were active in the transfer window, bringing in three players while another three left the club to try and help the side get a few more results.
It’s starting to pay off.
Vassiliadis said in the scheme of things, the result was a massive one for the club.
“We took some risks and the boys coming on from the sub bench started the come back,” he said.
“The effort was immense. They have the best young talent and they train for longer. It’s difficult to score one against them, let alone three goals in six minutes.
“Once you get that first goal the confidence and belief grows in the group. It was a wonderful celebration for the club and hopefully we can build on it.”
Riki Hosoai, Naoki Miyoshi and Morgan Filer were the goal scorers for the Georgies.
The win was the Georgies fifth for the season and sixth in a row. They are now up to ninth on the ladder.
For Vassiliadis, he’s continuing to take it one week at a time as they continue to build into the season, their first back at this level.
They are in the middle of a run of playing the top five teams.
This week they face second placed Northcote City, which lost to bottom side North Geelong Warriors on Saturday.
The Georgies won the first time the two teams met early in the season.
“We have a huge game against Northcote City this week which we want to win,” Vassiliadis said.
“Looking at the results there were some very surprising results.
“I’ve been in the league for many years now and there will be more surprising results this week.
“We don’t intend to let the work we’ve put in be for nothing. We want to finish as high as we can.”
United sit in fourth spot after the loss, five points behind Melbourne Victory which sits top.
