Keen to open account

April 5 2014

Shepparton News

It’s been a tricky introduction to life in the top-tier of state soccer for Goulburn Valley Suns and Heidelberg United.

Both sides head into the round three National Premier Leagues Victoria clash at McEwen Reserve without a point to their names, but with plenty of promising signs from the first two games.

The Suns, who are set to play their third straight home fixture after this week’s match was moved to Shepparton, have endured tough 1-0 and 3-2 losses to Oakleigh Cannons and Ballarat Red Devils, respectively, and coach Melvyn Wilkes is keen to get on the board tonight.

‘‘It’s not a must-win game, but we’re looking to register some points,’’ Wilkes said.

‘‘We need to get ourselves going and get some momentum.

‘‘They’re in a similar position to us, so both sides will be cautious and looking to win.’’

Wilkes said there were plenty of positives to take from last week’s loss, but said the silly mistakes that have seen the Suns fall behind early in both fixtures had to be cut out, while they would have to capitalise on the chances created at the other end.

‘‘We went through the video in the week and I counted 21 chances we had to the opposition’s 10, not to mention the 11 corners we had to their one,’’ Wilkes said.

‘‘We had another three stonewall penalties turned down as well . . . so I’d like to see some more consistency there. If they’re happy to dish out yellow cards in the first five minutes, why not give the penalties when they’re there?

‘‘We know going forward, if we can create these chances as we did, we need to be a bit more composed and pick our spots instead of trying to kick the leather off the ball.’’

Josh Glover will return to centre defence from midfield in a slightly changed defence, while slight changes will be made to the forward line, as Wilkes hopes to commit even more numbers forward this week.

Heidelberg comes into the game having suffered 3-0 and 2-1 losses to South Melbourne and the Cannons, respectively, but coach George Katsakis said his team was slowly coming together.

‘‘It’s a completely different team to last year,’’ Katsakis said.

‘‘We’ve conceded five goals in two games, which is a concern, but we’ve done a lot of work on our defence this week, but I think offensively we’re looking in.’’

His optimism going forward has been helped with the late acquisition of English forward Kaine Sheppard, who he sees forming an exciting partnership with former Shepparton Soccer Club striker Daniel Heffernan.

‘‘Heff is really up for it, he’s told us about a few players up there and he reckons there are some good players up there . . . so we know we’ll have to be at our best,’’ Katsakis said.