Melton Phoenix coach Theo Karapanagiotidis won’t be forgetting Saturday’s 1-0 win against Maribyrnong Greens in a hurry.
In a battle between fourth and fifth on the FFV state league 4 soccer ladder, the lower-ranked, injury-ridden Melton produced one of its best performances of the season to secure the three points.
The single goal lifted the Phoenix into fourth on the ladder and kept the club’s top-two hopes alive.
“There are some special wins throughout the year and this is one I’ll look back on,” Karapanagiotidis said.
“We were undermanned and we just fought it out and it was magnificent. I couldn’t be happier.
“It was a massive win for our club. Our group has been decimated by injuries. It was a massive game, and for us to keep our structure for the whole 90 minutes was huge.”
After a hard-fought first 30 minutes, Melton’s Beau Chang broke the game open with a daring run down the left.
He took on three opponents before finding Carlo Velasquez, who promptly put the ball into the back of the net. That was all Melton needed to see off the Greens.
Karapanagiotidis was full of praise for Velasquez and his defenders.
“He [Velasquez] had his best game under me by a mile,” he said.
“I put the hard word on him before the game … I put some pretty strict demands on the kid and he was phenomenal. I was absolutely rapt with how he went.
“The defensive unit, the back four and the goalkeeper, were brilliant as well. We kept a clean sheet, which has been hard to come by this year.”
After jumping into the competition’s top four, Melton has been given a golden opportunity to climb even higher with an away game encounter with bottom side Laverton this week.
Despite Melton’s away form being inconsistent, Karapanagiotidis is confident his players will put in another strong performance.
“Our away form has been getting better,” he said.
“Every game we play in we’re hoping to get three points.
“It’s a momentum shift. We hadn’t won for a month if you include the bye, so there can be a few doubts and that sort of thing.
“Now I feel like we have the momentum again and the guys will come to training buzzing. The winning feeling is back.”
