Heidelberg United coach George Katsakis is hoping his side’s “never say die” attitude will see the Warriors over the line in tonight’s clash against Bentleigh Greens at Kingston Heath.
Sitting third on the table after nine rounds, three points off second placed Oakleigh Cannons, Heidelberg will enter the contest after an impressive run of results, notching up their fifth consecutive win with a 1-0 victory over Heidelberg United on Sunday night.
“[It’s] obviously going to be another big game,” Katsakis said
“One good thing about the team is that they never say die, they just keep battling.
“I’m sure that we are going to create enough, I hope we can put them away and obviously consolidate in that area and then not concede a goal and hopefully we can come off with another positive result.”
“They are coming off a draw at Shepparton, they won’t be too pleased with that but I’m sure that if we can go there with a purpose and try to stay within our structures I think then at least we’ll make a game of it.”
Only their first season back in the top flight after promotion from State league One last year, Katsakis believes says his side are now firing on all areas of the pitch, sending a message to the rest of the competition.
“I think we’ve made a statement now that we are not going to concede goals as easy as we were early on in the season, but more importantly I said after the game to the players that this was almost a payback from the defence to our attackers,” he said at full time following their victory over Melbourne Knights.
“They’ve been scoring numerous amounts of goals every week and you can afford to concede every now and then and today they didn’t concede anything and it only took the one goal to win the game.”
United will however be without former Victory man Daniel Vasilevski who suffered a suspected dislocated knee on Sunday night whilst left back Les Doumbalis may be in doubt after limping off with a hamstring injury.
“[They’re] both injured, were not sure how long it might be but Vas has already gone to the hospital because we believe it might be a dislocated knee.”
“Les came off in the last 15 minutes – Again he’s feeling a bit tight in the hamstring so we’ll have to asses that and see how he goes.”
Tonight’s game promises to be the highlight of the round as Heidelberg look to capitalise on a fourth place Bentleigh Greens side that’s experiencing a mini drop of form. Kick off is scheduled for 8.30pm at Kingston Heath.