Pascoe Vale coach Vitale Ferrante understood the importance of getting off the mark as his side gained their first point of the NPL season following a 1-1 draw away to Bentleigh Greens on Friday night.
Whilst the coach was happy with the result, he did admit at times that his side were a bit careless with possession, which is something that they’ll have to reduce.
“For us it’s a great result,” Ferrante said.
“I thought we executed our game plan well but the thing that I wasn’t particularly happy about, especially in the second half is we sort of turned the ball over more than what I wanted.
“We did everything well to win the ball, we turned it over but I’m extremely happy with the result we got.”
A loss to Bentleigh would have put Pascoe Vale in the uncomfortable position of being winless after three rounds, but Ferrante’s side rectified that, as well as knocking off another unwanted record for the season – scoring their first goal in three attempts.
“What I’m happy about is we scored our first goal and that’s sort of been coming,” he said.
“We finally broke that hoodoo and we created a good couple of opportunities to even get another goal – which against Bentleigh, who are an extremely dangerous, great side – is really promising for us.”
Ferrante also voiced his delight at giving the Pascoe Vale’s fans something to enjoy, admitting after the first two rounds, something was needed to release the tension.
“We weren’t happy with the first game against Melbourne Knights. The boys were very harshly dealt with a 2-0 result; it’s not reflective of the game at all so it’s a monkey off everybody’s back.
“You could probably feel it even with the boys. We’re going to celebrate like a win because it’s been a bit tough in the first two rounds but we know what we can do and for us it’s not a surprise.”
The Pascoe Vale boss also praised the industry of his players throughout the contest, singling out Adrian Talarico and Luca Santilli, who came close to giving the boys in blue and white their first win with two great chances at goal.
“I thought Adrian Talarico, who had [been] put into midfield from left-back, I thought he was exceptional tonight, his hard work. We had some good performers,” he said.
“It was more hard work today than some really good football and I thought Luca Santilli did well when he came on, he brought a lot of energy which made a big difference and caused a few problems [for the opposition].
“Generally, I wasn’t unhappy with anyone’s performance tonight. Everyone’s worked hard and we had to tonight.
Ferrente turned his attention to next week, admitting that his side have to remain confident if his men are to beat 2013 VPL winners Northcote City next week.
“I’m going to tell them ‘see, boys we’ve got our first goal, we didn’t keep a clean sheet but the performance was promising’, [we’ve had] two good performances, one was a gritty one,” he said.
“They’ve got to believe in themselves.
“If they believe in themselves, we’ll take it to Northcote as well.”
Photo: Frank Khamees – Sportsgraphy