Strikers end City's run
by Lee Gagliardi

Michele La Stella - Photo courtesy of Adam Butler

 

Western Strikers captain Michele La Stella admitted he was delighted his side were the first to take points from Adelaide City in the 2011 Devine Super League campaign.

Strikers managed to hold on for a 1-1 draw, despite finishing the match with nine men after Calvin Mbarga and Ermias Haile were given their marching orders in the space of a minute just on the hour.

La Stella acknowledged the result may have been different had his side not been reduced to nine men, and for the heroics of goalkeeper Takumi Takahashi who pulled off a host of stunning saves to ensure Strikers shared the points.

The Strikers shot stopper was brilliant in denying City time and time again and eventually only conceded when Nicky Orr coolly converted a spot kick with a quarter hour to play.

"Obviously it feels good considering we had nine men. I think we could have won the game if we had 10 men to be honest," said La Stella.

"I really don't know how Takahashi is playing in the Super League still. He's definitely above Super League standard and he's been performing every week just like that for the last two seasons."

"Thanks to him we were able to steal a point in the end, but once we had two boys sent off, everyone really came together. I didn't have a doubt we wouldn't lose that game even though we finished with nine men."

Strikers had weathered an early storm from City before taking the lead on the stroke of half time through Cameroon goal machine Mbarga.

The striker netted his seventh league goal this season, poking the ball into the back of the net after City keeper Luke Ostbye parried a shot into his path.

Strikers exploded into the after the break and threatened early as City lost veteran defender Paul Pezos to injury.

La Stella admitted his side were confident early and a second goal looked likely before Mbarga and Haile were dismissed.

"Obviously we were saying we were playing really well and we just had to keep it up," he said.

"Also, we were very weary they were going to come out in the first 10-15 minutes all guns blazing, but we seemed to come out better than them in that first 10 minutes of the second half."

"We knew Pezos wasn't 100 percent so they were making a change so we thought if there was ever a time to beat Adelaide City it would have been just after that break, but things didn't really go accordingly."

Mbarga loomed as a constant threat to City until his dismissal, but La Stella acknowledged his pace and attacking nous has continually put him in the right place at the right time.

"He's a goal poacher and that's his job," he said.

"He's very quick off the mark and last night he just pounced on that chance. It's always good to have someone who has lightning speed up front."

Strikers defender Ambesager Yosief has also been a revelation since making his debut in the Devine Super League and La Stella said the Eritrean international is good enough for the A-League and would be happy to see his team-mate succeed on the big stage.

"Ambes has a nice left foot, he's very calm and definitely there should be some A-League clubs around the mark," he said.

"At the end of the day Western Strikers is a development club and we like to see our boys move on to bigger and better things. That's the beauty of our club we always try and push our players forward on to the A-League clubs."

Western Strikers will host Adelaide City in Round 2 of the Coca-Cola Amatil Federation Cup and La Stella said his club is looking forward to the rematch.

"You like to play against the benchmarks just to see where you're at," he said.

"I think last night gave us extra confidence going forward into the rest of the season."

"I'm kind of happy we drew them in the Cup at our ground and obviously everyone lifts for those games and everyone will be ready to go for that one."