On a blustery Saturday at Green Gully Reserve, goals from the formidable strike-force of Nick Krousoratis and Liam Boland propelled Green Gully to a 5-0 drubbing of Northcote City.
In their return to league football action, Gully dominated proceedings; Krousoratis scoring the first goal with half-an-hour gone, the second only six minutes later.
He completed his hat-trick soon after half time, a feat that doesn’t surprise coach Arthur Papas.
“Nick’s been doing well since round one, the only thing he hasn’t had is goals next to his name,” Papas said.
“He’s had enough chances and hit the post that many times [this season], so he deserves his goals today.”
The winger’s performance wasn’t the only highlight in a strong Gully side, with striker Liam Boland bagging a brace to cement his status as one of the most dangerous forwards in the league.
He opened his league account with a delightful first half header, followed by a classy free kick in the 89th minute.
Boland’s consistently positive impact on the pitch doesn’t come without hard work, and Papas believes he’s doing it all with a weekly target on his back.
“I think he [Boland] comes in for some pretty rough treatment in fairness and he’s not protected enough, if you see every week some of the tackles he’s copping, it’s actually something that can really be addressed at a higher level because he’s working so hard,” Papas said.
Papas says Boland’s best is yet to come, and with a hand in each of Gully’s three other goals, he demonstrated his versatility and did more than enough to shake the unwanted ‘target man’ stigma.
“He likes to play with his back to goal, he can get in behind [with] crosses coming into the box, he’s a great finisher,” Papas said.
“And I think he’s added to his game a terrific work rate; he doesn’t stop working defensively as well.
“He’s got a lot of attributes that are good for this level and possibly at a higher level.”
While he might hope for less attention, defences from around the league will be on red alert if he can continue in this vein, which has seen him almost score a goal a game since his mid-season move from Oakleigh in 2015.
Gully face Port Melbourne next week in what will be an important fixture as both sides sit on eight points after five games.
A win would cement a top-four spot, capping off a start to the season that Papas says has been promising to date.
“Everyone’s fighting for spots, some guys were really stiff to miss out, they come on and they add to the performance. We don’t go backwards, we think we’re on the right track,” Papas said.
“I’ve enjoyed it. It’s a club with so much history and success as well.
“It’s had a couple of barren years, but it’s always a club I looked at and thought [there’s a] really fantastic stability within the club in terms of how they run the club and how they let you get on with your work.
“I’m happy here, I’m always happier after a win and if we have success, and at the end of the day that’s what your job’s going to be defined by.
“So in the end we’ve still got a long way to go before we start judging where it’s at.”