Ferrante: We need to play our style

Sitting just above the point-less Goulburn Valley Suns at the bottom of the pit may not read well for many but Pascoe Vale boss Vitale Ferrante is insisting that reverting back to his team’s preferred method of play will propel them forward in leaps and bounds.

The Vale crawled their way back to salvage a draw against Ballarat Red Devils in Round 6 when it all seemed dead and gone for after trailing 2-0 with less than a quarter of an hour to play.

Michael Ferrante’s outstanding free kick began the revival before a deflection off Nathen Megic’s back that sailed into the net ensured that Ferrante’s men would escape with a point.

This pleased the former Fawkner Blues man, who went on to describe his dissatisfaction with not having gone on to claim the winner.

“I thought that the boys showed good character to come back after being two-nil down,” he said.

“In the last 25 minutes when we played our style, we showed what we’re about and in the end, although it sounds pretty funny, I’m upset that we didn’t get the three points.”

Liam Harding’s red card for the Red Devils mid-way through the second period opened up the match and permitted a brand of football Ferrante is much keener to see espoused by his side.

“We need to work as hard as we can to play our style of football and not get drawn into the opposition’s style of football,” he explained.

“We’ve got to be able to say, we’re not going to match them in that regard and put the ball down on the ground.”

The past two home games saw the Vale pick up four points from a possible six and while the mini run has meant that they are only a win away from eighth spot, the young coach sought more.

“We wanted all six,” he affirmed.

“I’m not happy that we conceded two goals. What’s happening to us at the moment is when the opposition get that one chance, they’re putting it away. And we’ve got to address that.”

A trip to Olympic Village awaits on Sunday against Heidelberg United and following his team’s conquest over the same opposition only two weeks ago, Ferrante believes that the message is the game this time round.

“Heidelberg play a very similar style of football to Ballarat,” he said.

“We did the job on them at home [a fortnight ago] and I know how they play. It’s a big ground, a good surface. It should suit us so we’re going to go there and try and win the game.”

Article by Shaun Moran