Western Suburbs is looking every bit like a potential champion halfway through the state league 1 soccer season.
Second-on-the-table Suburbs has been undefeated for more than a month, conceding just five goals in that time.
The most recent win came on Friday night against Brimbank-based Westgate.
Despite playing away from home, Suburbs proved far too good, winning 3-1.
At the heart of the miserly defence has been first-year goalkeeper Carlos Espinoza.
A former Chilean under-20 national player, Espinoza has made some of the best strikers in the league look ordinary.
Western Suburbs club secretary Sasha Pete says the strong defence has created great confidence.
“What happens when you have a good defence is that you start mounting pressure on the other team,” Pete said.
“A tight defence gives you the opportunity to press.”
Western Suburbs is headed on the table only by North Sunshine Eagles.
Having jumped up from state league 2, the Eagles have handled comfortably the rise in standard, having lost just a single game.
That came in the form of a 5-0 drubbing by Suburbs.
Pete said it was his side’s best performance of the year.
“That game, it was 100 per cent total football,” he said. “We scored within a couple of minutes and everything went right that day.
“Before the game, the coach made everyone sign their name on to a ball to give their commitment that they were going to do everything they could in that battle.
“We wanted everyone to lay it on the line that day, and the boys killed it.”
Western Suburbs will have a chance to further strengthen its title run in the coming rounds through back-to-back crunch matches against fellow contenders Altona Magic and Cairnlea.
Magic is in third spot, while Cairnlea has jumped from 10th to fifth since round four.
“The next few weeks will start shaping up what will happen with our season,” Pete said.
“If we can keep that level of consistency, score one more goal than the other team, then we’ll keep on taking the three points.
“There is certainly a feeling of something building here at Suburbs.”
In other state league 1 results, North Sunshine defeated Cairnlea, Keilor Park was too good for Sunbury United, and Altona Magic got the better of Altona East Phoenix.
