Suns cop a fair walloping

July 8 2014

Shepparton News

Peter Zois’ short stint as senior coach of Goulburn Valley Suns has come to an end with a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Heidelberg United on Sunday night.

The result, among other issues , prompted Zois’ decision to step down as the Suns’ senior coach after being appointed two months ago .

It was the second time in as many matches the Bergers had destroyed the Suns, after beating them 6-2 in round two, and Sunday night’s result was a stark reminder of how little progress had been made on the park.

‘‘It’s not a good result, obviously, but the performance was particularly disappointing,’’ Zois said.

‘‘I expected a much better performance. We set out knowing they posed a threat from set pieces and spoke about how we didn’t want to give them unnecessary opportunities in the defensive third.

‘‘After 40 minutes, we’ve given them eight corners and three free-kicks, so we’ve given them 11 opportunities.’’

Dan Vasilevski made full use of the constant opportunities , scoring two crackers from direct free-kicks.

The first came after 33 minutes and the second after 47, sandwiching a brilliant individual effort from Kosta Kanakaris in injury time of the first half.

Mark McGough made it 4-0 with a stupendous 45-yard effort over new Suns keeper Alfonso Cardinale, before Andrew Cartanos put the finishing touches on a lovely team move set up by Kaine Sheppard.

Nothing Zois changed seemed to work for the Suns, as Zach Foxhoven made his debut for the Suns playing behind leading striker Craig Carley.

He eventually moved up top at half-time with Carley being replaced by Brian Vanega, who played behind Foxhoven.

The attacking moves did nothing to stop the Suns leaking goals.

‘‘That’s the frustrating for me. I look at the (eight) goals we conceded in the last two games, and only one of them has come through actual combination play and us being opened up,’’ Zois said.

‘‘Against Ballarat last week, we concede from a wide free-kick, a corner and an individual error at the back and this week we lose goals to two direct free-kicks, a goal from 40-plus yards, an individual error and only the fifth comes from us being opened up.

‘‘From a tactical perspective, they struggled to get behind us and their midfielders didn’t really get on top. We punished ourself.’’