Heading back to familiar territory

Matthew Galea

April 5 2014

Shepparton News

The trip to the Goulburn Valley will be a new experience for many of the visiting players during this inaugural National Premier Leagues Victoria campaign.

However, for Heidelberg United’s Daniel Heffernan, it will provide a trip to his second home.

Heffernan was a major hit for Shepparton Soccer Club in 2012, when he scored 24 goals to take out the Regional Premier League’s goalscoring award, and has fond memories of his time in the region.

‘‘(Returning) has been something I’ve been looking forward to since I found out there would be a Shepparton-based team involved in the NPLV,’’ Heffernan said.

‘‘It’s nice to be coming back because there are a lot of good people up there.’’

Heffernan said he would have been happy to return to Shepparton last season had the RPL managed to retain the New South Wales-based clubs that featured in 2012.

Shepparton’s — and the league’s — loss was Heidelberg’s gain , as the Mancunian proved he was more than capable of cutting it in metropolitan soccer.

Playing State League One, which was then the second-highest level of state soccer, Heffernan scored 19 goals in 22 games to lead the club’s scoring charts after an initial settling-in period.

‘‘This year again, we’ve gone up a level with the competition and we’re playing a lot of strong teams, so I think we’re still settling,’’ Heffernan said.

‘‘The first game (a 3-0 loss to South Melbourne) we were a bit overawed and a lot of us didn’t show, but the last game (a 2-1 loss to Oakleigh Cannons) we felt we were the better team.’’

Heffernan said he was slowly finding his feet , particularly since the club had bought in Kaine Sheppard.

‘‘We had our first game together against Oakleigh and there was some good link-up play, which is helping me,’’ Heffernan said.

‘‘He’s a tall lad as well and that does take the pressure off me, because I’m not the only target. I can do more work off the ball now.’’

Heffernan said the make-up of the Suns side meant he wasn’t familiar with too many players, but was looking forward to resuming rivalries with Nick Kalafatis.

‘‘He’s a strong defender and I remember him well from playing against him when he was at Shepparton United,’’ Heffernan said.

‘‘With me scoring the goals in the finals (in 2012) maybe I got the better of him, and hopefully I can do the same this year.

‘‘Craig Carley and Ben Clarke are very good players too, so we’ll have to be wary of them.’’