With the young Footscray side sitting winless on the bottom of the ladder, Altona entered the Western Derby as favourites. Despite this, Altona knew that their local rivals would be quick, skilful and keen to record a victory against the longest serving State League Club in competition history. Altona had the added motivation of honouring their co-captain, Steve Campbell, in his 100th State League One appearance.
Gold medallist, Travis Brooks, was the big off-season signing as coach for Footscray, so Altona expected their opposition to come out with some top notch tactics and game plan. While the rivalry between these two clubs has been focused in the lower grade seniors and junior divisions, given Footscray were last in SL1 in 1998, both sides contain a number of players aged under 25, who have grown up playing with each other in Western Zone representative teams, and thus know each other very well. Altona dominated proceedings early. Strikers Pat Phillips and Jesse Gatt were troubling the Footscray defence with their speed and silky skills. Campbell led from the front, making countless tackles, stopping any Footscray counter-attacks in their tracks. Young defender and drag flicker Chris Coleman silenced his critics who reckoned he didn’t score enough goals at home, slotting a searing flick past the Footscray keeper early in the match. Altona’s dominance continued, but their young strikers and midfielders weren’t converting this into scoreboard control. The Altona defence weren’t troubled too much by Footscray in the first half, but when a counter attack was mounted, young defenders Coleman, Jake Macvean and Matt Briscoe had it covered. Coleman scored another perfect drag flick, to take a 2-0 lead into half time. Co-coaches Greg Drake and Ben Guy, weren’t satisfied at half time, with the number of circle outcomes too low for the amount of ball being provided to the forwards.
Altona came out and took a 3-0 lead early in the second half, through a diving strike from a rebound from Phillips. Several chances in field play and penalty corner attempts followed, but Altona was unable to find the back of the net. The Altona defence wasn’t overly troubled by Footscray throughout the match, and the midfield, led by Campbell, was clearly on top. The number of chances suggested Altona should have scored over 5 goals, so the performance from the forwards was below par. Co-coach Greg Drake was understandably unimpressed with the performance: “we got the job done, which pleased the fans I’m sure, but we did not get enough scoring output for the number of opportunities we created. They are a young side, finding their way in this competition, so we were lucky today. A performance like that, with a similar conversion percentage, against a top four side, will see us in real trouble.”
Altona will take on Greensborough away on Saturday. The sides will compete for the inaugural Michael “Danny” McLean Cup following his passing last year. McLean was a long time servant of the Greensborough HC and a supporter and friend to the Altona HC. Medals for the best players in both teams will be awarded post the match to honour McLean.
Altona 3 defeated Footscray 0
Goals: Coleman 2, Phillips 1
Best: Campbell, Phillips, Higgins, Macvean