A REPLENISHED Wests side secured a clinical 2-0 victory over Yoogali Football Club at Noe Santolin Oval on Saturday night.
After struggling through its 4-0 loss to Griffith City Football Club last weekend with a heavily depleted side, Wests was back at full strength and ready to make up the lost points when it faced YFC.
“It was really good,” coach Frank Portolesi said.
“We had all our juniors guys come back and Matt Arnold, Chris Johansen and Greg Hilton returned from injury so that gave us a much stronger team.”
But both sides struggled to convert their chances in the first half and the game went to the break tied 0-0.
“Yoogali looked quite good up front,” Portolesi said.
“They had some speedy guys and had good possession in the middle. They had a couple of opportunities when they were able to break through the backline but our ’keeper Mitchell Woods was up to the task, even though he was backing it up from reserve grade.”
Determined to grab control of the game, Wests came out strong in the second half and Dean Cappello finally grabbed Wests’ first goal with a header half way through the second term.
While Yoogali fought to grab the equaliser, it couldn’t get past the skilled hands of Woods and with five minutes to go, Wests’ Sam Salvestro sealed the victory when he slotted its second into the home side’s net.
“Sam had a really good game,” Portolesi said.
“I’m really happy with the way they all played, they did well.
“We’ve just got to start taking some early chances. When you’re up against a team like YFC they’ll always come back if you don’t take advantage of those early opportunities.
“We were open in the last 10 to 15 minutes and they came back strong but we managed to hold on.”
Portolesi praised Hilton, Johansen and Woods for their efforts during the match.
