Dark times as Suns again fail to shine

Matthew Galea

June 3 2014

Shepparton News

Peter Zois was blunt in his assessment of Goulburn Valley Suns after their 2-0 defeat in a must-win National Premier Leagues Victoria game against Pascoe Vale.

‘‘We’ve got four points after 11 games and that’s the reality of it,’’ Zois said.

‘‘It’s not at the level it needs to be.’’

It would be hard to disagree with Zois on the back of Saturday night’s performance, which left the Suns in a perilous position.

Once again, the Suns failed to make the most of a good opening period.

Ben Clarke’s pace and trickery down the right flank was once again a feature, and he set up a fantastic opportunity in the opening 10 minutes when he beat his man and produced a lovely cross to Craig Carley.

Carley’s shot was on target, but was deflected behind for a corner.

The Suns were combative in midfield and compact at the back, but once again the concession of a goal would see Zois’ best plans come unravelled.

Jonathan Voulgaris broke the deadlock in the 37th minute with a low, well-placed strike through a forest of legs that found its way past Suns keeper Phillip Petrovski.

It was a half-chance at best, but a failure to close Voulgaris down meant he had all the time in the world to pick his spot.

Clarke had the best opportunity to level the scores when he beat his man, cut inside and took the ball past the keeper but could only hit the post from a tight angle.

Voulgaris would double his tally in the 71st minute when a seemingly harmless cross found its way to the back post where the right winger stood unmarked.

Things went from bad to worse from there, as the frustrated Suns lost their discipline.

Stipo Andrijasevic earned himself a straight red for throwing an elbow, before Frankie Lagana earned two yellow cards in the space of six minutes, while Hernan Espindola also suffered an ankle injury.

‘‘We concede a goal against the run of play through an error which might not have been intentional, but an error that is becoming quite common,’’ Zois said.

‘‘I thought the game plan was working, but then we go into panic stations and players start chasing players instead of remaining compact and it opens up all these holes.’’