Image: Con Deves
Five rounds into the season and Hume City has registered just one win so far. Most recently was a 3-2 loss on Monday night to Kingston City, the same result suffered at the hands of Bentleigh Greens the week prior.
Speaking after the loss on Monday, Hume City technical manager Dean Hennessey was adamant the poor run of results would not define his side’s season.
“We led twice last week… And then one long ball into the box, we were sleeping… and you get beat 3-2. It’s very fine margins at this level,” Hennessey said.
“The two weeks before that we had two clean sheets and we played really really well. Defensively we looked solid. We’ve come from 2-0 down against [Melbourne] Knights in round 1.”
“It’s disappointing but the season’s not going to be defined by this result.”
Hume will have some time to reflect on its start to the season as FFA Cup fixtures take place this weekend, making for a break in the league.
Hume will be without two key men when they take on State League 1 side Langwarrin however, with Daniel Clark picking up two yellow cards against Kingston while Wayne Wallace is sidelined through injury.
“[Clark’s] trying to win the ball and he’s mistimed it, we’ve all done it. But it hurts you because all of a sudden you’re down to 10 men,” Hennessey said.
“That’s football, you lose him for the next game and somebody else will come in. We’ve just gotta bounce back next week in the cup.”
“Wayne got hurt during the mid-week, he just went for a tackle and it just went wrong so he’ll be out for maybe a couple of weeks. You’re going to miss players like Wayne Wallace but every team’s got the same issues. You’re not going to always have your strongest eleven.”
In the front third however, Hennessey is left spoilt for choice as a number of new faces including Liam Boland, Atilla Ofli and Jayden Prasad means Theo Markelis – one of Hume’s key men in previous seasons – has started the last three games on the bench.
“Jayden’s a good player, as is Theo… It’s one of those decisions you make as a manager, you put the team out that you think is going to win the game for you.”
“I actually thought when he did come off the bench that he did quite well so for me these are just decisions. Theo’s a big boy, he’ll be alright, he’ll sort it out.”
Speaking on his opponents, Hennessey added that it was good to see Kingston City, the club he coached in 2007, back in the Victorian top flight.
“I loved the year I was here,” he said.
“It was a tough time at the time, the manager had left just a week before the season. I was the only one standing there so I took over but it was a great set of lads. It’s great to see from [Nick] Tolios’ point of view, credit where credit’s due, that they got promoted last year. Not too happy we haven’t got any points out of today but from the club’s point of view it’s good to see them back in the top flight.”