Emerging from the dressing rooms, Velibor Mitrovic’s calm demeanour is in vast contrast to the whirlwind 12 months the 24-year-old has just experienced.
Cram in a stint in Bosnia’s top flight, a serious injury, a spell in the Victorian state leagues and a return to NPL action at Kingston – via a trial at South Melbourne – and you have a frenetic footballing journey with little time to take a breather.
That same rollercoaster of emotions was in full motion at the Grange in Kingston’s opening 2-1 win over Box Hill United.
After propelling his side to an early advantage with a well taken finish, Box Hill equalised before the attacking midfielder spurned a penalty to re-take the lead; given his prolific pre-season, scoring regularly for South Melbourne, one would have assumed a conversion would have been a formality.
Nevertheless, former Czech youth international and fellow new recruit Zdenek Koukal scored the eventual winner, and the team was able celebrate a hard-earned three points against another side touted for a promotion challenge.
“It was a tough game, always is against Box Hill, they played very well,” Mitrovic said.
“We wanted to just get the three points and run out the game.”
The contest marked a successful return to Kingston for Mitrovic, having last scored nine goals in 25 games at the Grange in 2014.
His form earned him a stint with top division Bosnian side Radnik Bijeljina, where the midfielder got to see the likes of Zeljeznicar, Sarajevo, Zrinjski Mostar and Siroki Brijeg in action.
It wasn’t his first overseas odyssey, having previously featured at the academy of Serbian giants Partizan Belgrade in his youth.
“It really opened my eyes to see what football is at a professional level,” Mitrovic says.
“Coming back I just wanted to bring that to the club here.”
It was while he was overseas that he suffered osteitis pubis, a condition causing inflammation to the pelvis resulting in groin pain, with a lengthy rehab process forcing him to take time off the pitch.
After returning to Australia during 2015, missing the mid-season NPL deadline, he spent time at Langwarrin in State League One, but admits his road to recovery still extends to today.
“[It’s] still a work in progress, since getting back I’ve had about five weeks of preseason so I’m still not up there in fitness, there’s still a lot of work to do but I’m getting there,” he said.
“I found it a hard to get the run in and get my fitness up again, all round it was a decent performance, getting the goal gave me a bit of confidence so hopefully I can kick on from there.”
Now at 24-years-old, Mitrovic is almost a veteran of Victorian football, having spent time at the likes of Bentleigh Greens, Springvale White Eagles and Southern Stars – being part of promotion-winning teams at the latter two.
He was also a South Melbourne junior, with Mitrovic returning to his former club to trial in 2016.
He impressed at Lakeside, scoring against the likes of Box Hill, Bulleen and Port Melbourne – including a well-taken free kick against the Sharks – to potentially earn a contract in the top flight with the two-time NPL premiers.
SMFC vs Port Melbourne :: 2016 FriendlyVIDEO :: Check out our goals from our come from behind draw last night against Port Melbourne “Sharks” Soccer Club. After an experimental side in the first half found themselves three goals behind, a stronger outfit helped lift us in the second half to produce many positives.Make sure you watch the first goal, a cracking free-kick by trialist Velibor Mitrovic. Milos Lujic would score the next two!
Posted by South Melbourne FC on Saturday, 23 January 2016
However, in search of guaranteed game time he returned to Kingston City, a club he praises for helping launch his career in the state leagues and NPL.
He is now a key cog in Nick Tolios’ side as the Grange outfit look to impress in the NPL 2 in 2016, having gotten off to the ideal start at home against Box Hill.
“Coming back here, obviously I wanted to play at a high level but I wouldn’t have been given enough opportunity to play, so I thought I would come back down, get my form back up start playing again and see what happens,” Mitrovic said.
“For me they treat me like family, they brought me in when I was at my lowest, they brought me up, they got me back into it and they’ll always be number one for me.
“They’ve always been behind me and I really appreciate that.”
Image: Con Deves