Dandenong City coach Aaron Healy has pointed to last week’s opponents Melbourne Victory, signalling them as one of the benchmark teams in regards to fitness in the league.
Fresh off a National Youth League campaign, the battle hardened legs of the young starlets ran out the game the better of the two outfits, to steal a late 1-1 draw via a Stefan Nigro tap in.
Former Victory assistant Healey conceded it is hard to keep up with the full-time training regime the A-League affiliate have in place.
“It was good, they will be a tough side to beat, the Victory. They’re training four to five times a week and they’re doing it full-time,” the Dandenong head coach said.
“They’ve come off a NYL season, so they were up for it. I think they’ll cause trouble in the league, there’s no doubt. They have good quality players, technically very good and they’re physically very good.
“But they were definitely a step up from us this week [conditioning wise].”
Looking at his players, he believes the fitness will come with game practice, while also sympathising with the late equaliser they conceded.
“We’re getting there fitness wise. I’m not the type of coach that just runs players and get’s them fit. We need to work on the way we play, our systems and our style of play but I’m confident we’ll get there eventually,” Healy said.
“The players, you can’t question their effort or their endeavour, it was just disappointing to cop one at the end.
“But that’s the nature of football, if you don’t put away your chances, then you’re always susceptible of copping one at the other end.
“Happy with the performance, not happy with the result and I’ve said to the boys, we’ll continue to build, work on what we need to work on and I think we’ll get there.”
Taking a more in-depth look at the contest, Healy believed they were the dominant outfit for the majority of the contest, with Victory’s Lewis Spinella in goals the man to thank for the scoreline.
“I think in the first half, we caused ourselves few issues, just trying to play out from tight situations. In the first half we had a penalty that was obviously saved.
“Whenever you score that, it’s probably a different game. We changed some things at half time and I though the first 25 minutes of the second half, we were the dominant side.
“We created several good quality opportunities and I think in any game when you look at the opposition team and their best player is the opposition keeper, then you’re doing something right as a coach.”
Dandenong City contest an FFA Cup tie against Brunswick City this Saturday, before getting back to business in the league. A home tie against Box Hill United awaits them on the 21st of May at 3.00pm.
Photo: Dandenong City