Bentleigh Greens coach John Anastasiadis says today’s Round 16 PS4 NPL Victoria clash against Werribee City will “probably be one of the hardest games this year.”
The last the time the Greens entertained Werribee back in Round Three of this season at Kingston Heath, the visitors shocked Anastasiadis’ side, grinding out a 1-1 draw.
Now over three months on, Werribee finds itself only one point clear from safety while Bentleigh occupies top spot, yet Anastasiadis maintains that his squad won’t be taking today’s opposition lightly.
“It’s not so much about the undefeated streak, from now on in every game is bigger than the previous one,” Anastasiadis said.
“We are coming to the pointy end of the season, we are in a good position and we have to uphold it and keep it so this game is probably one of the hardest games this year.
“Werribee are a very good and organized team – defensively very good – so we’ve got to be at our best.”
Including last week’s 1-1 draw against Pascoe Vale, the next month is one of the most challenging Bentleigh will face in 2015.
South Melbourne and Heidelberg await Bentleigh in the coming weeks, followed by an away trip to Green Gully, who also took points off the undefeated Greens earlier this year.
“At the end of the day, games like South and Heidelberg are derbies, the boys will be motivated for that they don’t need any extra motivation,” Anastasiadis said.
“It’s these games that I’m pretty concerned about – The Werribees and the Pascoe Vales are theoretically speaking smaller teams even though I don’t think they are, there are no small teams in the NPL.
“They are all very good teams, very well organized, the football has been good this year and we’ve been lucky at times but most over the times we’ve been good, we’ve been really playing well and that’s what we have to continue – just keep playing the football we know and if we do that and apply ourselves the right way – then we wont have a problem no matter who the opposition is.”
“We’ve got people missing but at the end of the day the team isn’t about one or two players, it’s about 14, 15, 16 players. People will come in and do their job and hopefully we’ll get the three points,” he added.
The players Anastasiadis mentioned include left back Luke Pilkington and centre half Steven Topalovic.
So far the suspended duo have compiled the most minutes of any Greens players this season, but Anastasiadis is confident he has the personnel to fill any role.
Defender Ryan Love is set to make his starting debut in place of Pilkington, while versatile midfielder Troy Ruthven is predicted to drop into a central defensive position.
“They’re easily covered. We’ve got Ryan Love who will start his first game for the club as a new signing and we’ve got other players who can come in there and do the business.”
Having had previous success at a number ten, Daniel Visevic is expected to drop into that role, allowing Jamie De Abreu to start on the wing.
“Jamie De Abreu has been with us for three years now. He’s one of the older statesmen I suppose in a playing sense so we expect him to come up and play a really good game for us.”
Kick-off against Werribee is 3PM (U20s 1PM) at Galvin Park.