Dandenong City coach Aaron Healey says his side’s mixed run of form is not an issue and insists City will only improve heading into the thick of the season with home games on the horizon.
Dandenong City fell to seventh position on NPL East ladder after a heart-stopping 2-2 tie with Eastern Lions in Round Eight – just their third home game of the year.
Healey says City will continually develop throughout the NPL2 season, continuing by saying Dandenong faced some hiccups in 2015 but still ended up finishing the season strongly – a trend he feels could continue this year.
He feels changes to the playing list mean his team will take some time to really gel as new teammates play together.
With the transfer window opening up soon, the Dandenong coach mentioned strengthening the team is an area of focus as City chase NPL2 and FFA Cup success but remained tight lipped as to what moves Dandenong would make in the transfer period.
“We’ve bought in ten new players to the squad so there’s always going to be that [squad] adjustment – I think there are still players learning to play with each other and learn where people run etc,” Healey said.
“I think we’re a team that will continue to improve, we’re not a work in progress but we’ll continue to improve – we certainly want to go far as we can in all competitions so we’ll do what we need to.”
Dandenong City’s 2-2 tie with Eastern Lions at Frank Holohan Soccer Complex handed Dandenong their third draw in eight matches.
The home side took an early lead through Anthony Cassar before Slavisa Saric equalised only minutes later for Eastern Lions.
John Carroll put Dandenong 2-1 up in stoppage time but amazingly, Lions goalkeeper Robert Havercroft rushed forward and slotted home the winner from a corner kick just moments before the full-time whistle sounded.
“I thought at the end of the day, we scored a good goal in the first half [but] weren’t good enough to switch on and to concede another goal a bit later was disappointing,” the Dandenong coach said.
“I thought we were good enough to get the three points today but a lapse at the end cost us no doubt.
“We scored two goals and weren’t good enough to keep them out and that’s disappointing … we need to be better,” he added.
Although disappointed to walk away from the game without a win, Healey says he felt positive about his side’s efforts, believing things can only get better for Dandenong City heading into mid season.
After playing five away games in eight rounds, Dandenong City are looking forward to playing some potentially season-defining games in front of a supportive home crowd in the next few rounds.
“We’ve played three games at home out of seven and we’ve been to Albury, we’ve been to Shepparton, we played Dandy Thunder and Kingston in those games,” the Dandenong coach said.
“That’s not an excuse at all – everyone has to do it.
“We’re certainly looking forward to the times where we get a couple of games at home in a row in the middle of the season and we look forward to continually growing the squad and continually developing the squad.”
Dandenong will travel to White Eagles Stadium this afternoon to face off against the Springvale White Eagles who only have one win this season from eight games.