Melbourne Heart defeated the Oakleigh Cannons in a friendly on Friday night at Jack Edwards Reserve, 5-2.
Despite the score line, Oakleigh Cannons’ coach, John Anastasiadis said he was very impressed with his team’s performance against the A-League’s newest club.
“I thought it was good, if we perform like that week-in, week-out we’ll go a long way.”
Anastasiadis played a full strength team in the first half, and made a number of changes in the second to give his younger players an opportunity against their more experienced counterparts.
“In the first half the senior team performed so well.
“At half time I said to them it’s a mental thing, It’s not in your legs, it’s in your head. We certainly take confidence from this for our next six games.”
Anastasiadis thought Melbourne Heart played well, and look to be on track with their preparation for their first A-League season.
“They’re alright (Heart); they’re obviously still in pre-season mode and have two or three quality players to come into the team.”
In an open, attacking affair, Heart’s Gerald Sibon scored the first of a hat-trick after guiding home a Jason Hoffman strike, before the Cannons struck back through a brilliantly worked move finished by Ljuban Palinic.
The contest exploded to a new level after the interval, Sibon curling a stunning 35-yard free kick into the bottom right hand corner in the 55th minute, before securing his hat-trick four minutes later, applying a tap in finish after impressive lead-up work from 18-year-old Eli Babalj.
Babalj then earned his place on the scoresheet with the Heart’s fourth of the night, dribbling past two players before rounding the Cannons ‘keeper.
Hume City's Aziz Behich also made his claims for a permanent deal with the Heart after blasting home a well-worked move five minutes from time after a piercing through ball from Sibon to make the lead 5-1.
Oakleigh’s Bill Gasparinatos rounded off the second stanza goal glut with an impressive strike in the dying minutes.
Melbourne Heart Head Coach John van ‘t Schip was obviously pleased with his side’s win, but was very clear on the significant work the squad still needs to do leading into round one of the Hyundai A-League season against the Central Coast Mariners.
“There were some good things, some good goals, and of course, some things that need improvement, but overall I was satisfied with the performance and am very thankful that Oakleigh hosted us and played the match in a positive, attacking spirit,” he said.
“It was a good opportunity for the boys to try out some of the things we’ve been working on, but we will analyse it again to see if they are on track for the upcoming season.”
The former Dutch international introduced Matt Thompson (in his first game since post-season ankle surgery), Gerald Sibon and Dean Heffernan into the starting XI for the first time, underlining the important chemistry within the squad.
“Those three guys didn’t play last week, and we had some more players, like Marrone, who were also available. The mix between the young players and the experienced players worked well yesterday evening,” he said.
“I was happy to see the work attitude of the team, although we have to work on a few things. But as a new team, that’s normal, we have to improve and improve every time.”
-with www.melbourneheartfc.com.au
Last updated: Monday July 5, 2010 2:50PM
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