Tara Murray
Westside Strikers continue to show they will be competitive in the FV state league 3 north-west this season.
Last season’s state league 4 west premiers, the Strikers came up a higher division with a completely different side.
The side has now claimed points in two of their three matches, after a 0-0 draw with Sunbury United on Saturday.
Strikers president Sam Raniolo said they were happy with the result against Sunbury.
“It was a pretty good result as Sunbury had won their first two games,” he said.
“It was a close match. We had a lot of chances especially in the first half and in the second half Sunbury put the pressure on.
“They had their chances to win it.”
Raniolo said things had gone well early in the season and they were hitting their pre-season expectations.
Despite doing that, he said they wouldn’t be looking to change their aims this early in the piece.
“We’re pretty happy at the moment,” he said. “We have a fairly new team with only two players from last year.
“We’re starting to gel together and we’re happy with the results at the moment. We wanted to be competitive and we are doing that.”
Raniolo said the key to the start of the season had been the willingness of the playing squad to put in the hard work.
He said the whole squad was coming to training and there were no egos, just a group wanting to get out there and play.
Saturday was a big day off field for the Strikers, with their club rooms in Taylors Hill officially opened.
Raniolo said they had a big crowd in attendance, who were able to enjoy the new facilities.
“We have everyone back at Taylors Hill now,” he said.
“It makes it a lot easier for us volunteers. It rained yesterday [Saturday] and everyone was inside watching the games.
“It feels like a real club now.”
The Strikers have this week off with a competition wide bye for the Easter long weekend.
Raniolo said it came at the perfect time for the group with a couple of injuries.
After the break the Strikers face Heidelberg Eagles.
“Heidelberg has been in state league 3 a few years now,” Raniolo said. “We’re confident we can get the job done.”
In state league 5 west, Melton Phoenix continued is good form, beating Deakin University.
The Phoenix scored just before half time and then scored two goals within a minute about 10 minutes into the second half to seal the 3-0 win.
