Park chases glory in defining clashes
BELL Park enters a seasondefining fortnight with a critical away clash to secondplaced Western Eagles in State League 4 action tomorrow.
The Round 5 encounter will pit the Eagles with the thirdplaced All Whites at the Polish Sports and Recreation Complex in Ardeer, before Bell Park hosts competition leaders Truganina Hornets the following week.
With only one team earning automatic promotion from State 4 (West) at season’s end, the need to capture maximum points from its next two outings is of paramount importance to the Batesfordbased club, says head coach Ivan Biscan.
“We know that if we want to be amongst the top two at season’s end, it’s games like these that we need to win,” Biscan said.
In order to secure a win against the high-flying Eagles, the All Whites defence will need to be on guard throughout the 90 minutes.
Led by star striker Matthew Lodkowski, the Eagles have scored almost double the number of goals Park has managed so far this season.
Lodkowski has netted on nine occasions, three quarters of his team’s aggregate of 12 in the opening four rounds.
By contrast, Bell Park has shared its goalscoring load among three players.
Mijo Marinovic, Nathan Munoz and teen star Anthony Pirrottina have all bagged two goals apiece out of Park’s total of seven goals scored.
“We are approaching Saturday’s game with a lot of confidence. Last week against Balmoral I was forced to tinker with our defence as we had a few regulars out, namely Daniel Ortiz, who got married,” Biscan said.
“Some of the boys were given a chance who haven’t been given until now and they really stepped up. In the end we won 2-0 and in the process recorded our first clean sheet of the season.”
Pat Mileto and close season signing from Golden Plains Sahayan Zaraie produced outstanding displays in the centre back roles and will be the keys to stifling the dangerous Lodkowski.
“They (Eagles) are a rejuvenated side, but our game plan will be simple — shut out their key players and force them into making mistakes,” Biscan said. Melbourne City v NORTH GEELONG WARRIORS (Latrobe University Bundoora, 3pm) GALAXY UNITED v Bayside United (Banyul Warri Reserve, 3pm) Western Eagles v BELL PARK (Polish Sports Complex Ardeer, 3pm) Laverton FC v SURF COAST (Laverton Park Reserve, 3pm) GOLDEN PLAINS - Bye LARA UNITED v Keilor Wolves (Lara Recreation Reserve, 3pm) Kensington City v DEAKIN DUCKS (Newmarket Reserve, 3pm) West Point v BARWON (Tom Roberts Reserve, 3pm) LARA UNITED v Fitzroy City (Lara Rec Reserve, 3pm)