By Lance Jenkinson
Cairnlea has gone from the depths of despair to cloud nine in the space of a week in the Football Federation Victoria men’s state league 2.
The Reds were shocked by bottom two side Westvale, but they found a way to re-group to inflict a rare defeat on ladder leader Whittlesea United at Cairnlea Park on Saturday.
The 2-0 victory not only lifted spirits in the Reds camp, it regenerated their promotion push.
Reds coach Kevin Theuma was impressed with his team’s ability to put a hard week behind them.
“Very proud of the boys to be honest,” he said. “We’ve had a tough couple of weeks but the boys rallied.
“We had two red cards last week, so a couple of squad players came in and did a really good job.
“I was sick in hospital, so I’ve been out of training all week and my assistant Josh Berrios did an absolutely amazing job with the help of my captain [Konrad Dobraszkiewicz], who was one of the boys who got a red card.
“I pretty much said to them, let’s have a team meeting on Tuesday, get together and work out some goals we want to achieve in the next couple of weeks and just rally the troops for one final push.”
Habib Fleifel provided the lasting memory of this one for Cairnlea.
Fleifel, who returned after a two-game suspension, scored the goal that had the Reds on level terms at half-time, but it was his winner in the dying minutes that will be talked about for a long time to come.
“I was going, ‘what the hell is he doing here?’ and then it went in,” Theuma said.
“It was a bicycle kick from outside the box.
“It was identical to one that Zlatan Ibrahimovic kicked.”
While Fleifel’s winner will be etched in the memory, it was Cairnlea’s defence which should get most of the credit for the three points.
Goalkeeper Chris Maynard made some fine saves, while the back four of Nathan Long, Ubeyde Cicek, Anthony Boras and Mark Saric kept the Whittlesea strike force in check.
“We were just rock solid,” Theuma said.
Chris Vartaci was Cairnlea’s other standout with a consistent performance in the midfield.
Cairnlea’s next assignment will be against Geelong Rangers away at Myers Reserve on Saturday.
