By Tara Murray
Melton Phoenix is starting to find its voice under new coach Vince Massara in the FV state league 4 west season.
Massara joined the Phoenix in the off season and it has been a strong start, with two wins from as many matches.
Massara said he can’t complain too much with a perfect start.
“We had mixed pre-season results as we were finding our voice, but I definitely feel we made some steps in the last few weeks, so it’s good to see that in the first two games,” he said.
“Pre-season was good. Mixed results-wise, but when you’re trying to work out the best way to play and working with a new team, you sacrifice some preseason results.
“The biggest disappointment was losing the Australia Cup tie, but it acted as a good kick up the backside too.
“The players have been really great with working through any little bumps and seeing the bigger picture.”
Massara said while they had started the season well, they know there’s still a long way to go and improvements to be made.
The Phoenix scored nine goals in their opening two matches, showing their scoring prowess early on.
Massara said while they were scoring, the focus of the group was much wider than that.
“What I love about the group is that even though we’ve scored nine goals in two games, I think if you asked most players, they’d highlight the goals we conceded as irritations,” he said.
“You never go out expecting to score four or five goals a game. Just go out there, constantly do the right things, stick to our plan, and chances will come. Some days they go in, and some they don’t; That’s football.”
Massara said while the playing group was all new to him, they had been able to keep the core group from last season together this season.
He said after finishing second last season, and having enough points to win most leagues, they didn’t want to do anything too crazy and rebuild when they didn’t need to.
“Obviously we’ve lost some players from last season, that’s totally normal, but we’ve also recruited well too,” he said.
Massara said they had a huge month to start the season, with a lot of home games. He said it would be a good test to see where they are.
“Having said that though, there’s no easy games at state 4 level, with the league restructuring next season every game is massive for every team.
“We just need to keep doing the right things, and give ourselves the best chance to do well.”
