EFL 2022: ‘Our best is good enough,’ South Croydon coach says following Rowville loss

The Bulldogs fell short of the EFL Premier Division leader on Saturday, but the performance has left the coach feeling bullish. Here’s why.

Its attempt to topple the ladder-leader late in the piece was thwarted – but South Croydon’s best stacks up, senior coach Marcus Buzaglo says.

The Bulldogs rallied from 36 points down in the third quarter to draw within eight points in time-on of the last in Saturday’s 15-point defeat to Rowville – but the coach remains bullish.

“Our best footy is certainly good enough to match it with the best side,” Buzaglo said.

“Certainly that first eight or nine minutes of that third quarter we had our chances, we were just missing kicks inside 50 and we just didn’t take our opportunities early, and against good sides you have to do that.

“There’s always going to be momentum in games and we had ours and didn’t take it.

“The fightback was encouraging but we left ourselves too much to do.”

MORE: Rowville resists late rush to remain top

South Croydon coach addressing the players on Saturday. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Buzaglo said his forwards felt the brunt of a potent Rowville team defence – ranked third in the competition for least scores conceded – a mere two points behind Noble Park and five behind Doncaster East.

Spearhead James Wilsen continued his dominant season in front of goal, bagging five majors to take his season total to 34 from 11 matches.

But a lack of one-on-one opportunities proved costly according to the coach.

“To be honest, with our forwards we didn’t get enough separation,” Buzaglo said.

“Rowville were very good at dropping off, we allowed them to do that too often to outnumber us.

“If our forwards are one-on-one, they’re dangerous but we didn’t get enough of that.

“It’s their back six that are well-structured … their mids also put some real pressure on and their forwards get up high and do the same thing … it’s their collective team defence, they’re fit, they’re quick which makes it hard to move the footy against them.”

South Croydon’s James Wilsen kicked five majors on Saturday. Picture: Valeriu Campan

South Croydon remains fifth on the Eastern league Premier Division ladder with a 7-5 record, but Buzaglo believes his side’s lapses in matches are separating it from the best.

“I guess the gap is just consistency of effort, every game this season … 10 minutes of the third quarter, 20 minutes of the last quarter (on Saturday), our effort’s there and we perform really strongly and we’ve shown we can match it, but that’s too inconsistent at the moment,” Buzaglo said.

“Noble Park beat us by 10 goals with a four-quarter effort, and Rowville were the same.”

South Croydon hosts Park Orchards (seventh) in Round 13.