Reds Run Out Of Steam as Diamonds Run Amok in Second Half

Damen Francis

March 27 2012

Shepparton News

Shepparton Soccer Club coach Tom Radevski admits his side was not physically prepared to run out 90 minutes of competitive play as the Reds were bundled out of the State Knockout Cup on Saturday.

Despite holding a 3-2 lead at the break, Shepparton was blitzed in the second half, with the visiting Wodonga Diamonds showing superior fitness to run away with a 7-3 victory.

The concession of five second-half goals would have been a concern for the Shepparton coaching staff, but Radevski said a lack of match fitness and the absence of key personnel were the main factors in the result.

‘‘We’re still in the middle of pre-season, so we still have some work to do,’’ Radevski said.

‘‘We would have liked to have gone a bit further in the cup, but with the players we had in we always knew we would be behind the eight-ball.

‘‘In saying that if we had a little bit more fitness we could have come very close.’’

It was not all doom and gloom for Radevski and the Reds, who took the opportunity to blood a host of young players in the senior team.

Jamie Thomas (two) and Joshua Dipac were on target for the Reds in a half that showed the team boasted plenty of firepower in the attacking third, even without prolific striker Carl Lamb, who has left the club.

Wodonga won the Albury Wodonga Football Association cup final last year and proved its credentials ahead of the new season.

For the Reds, it will back to the drawing board ahead of their encounter with West Griffith in the first round of the Regional Premier League on April 22.

‘‘You do learn, but you’ve got to be realistic as well,’’ Radevski said.

‘‘If it was our full side and we lost by that score I would be really worried.’’