PORTLAND has gone from strength to strength over the past few weeks of action in the South West Victorian Football Association’s division one competition, culminating in a 4-0 win on Sunday over Hamilton at Pedrina Park.

The Panthers were on top from the outset despite suboptimal conditions, with a first half hat trick to Razvan Atodiresei putting them in the box seat early.

The Panthers closed out the second half strong, preventing Hamilton from capitalising on their forays in attack, while Anu Ganugapati put the finishing touches on their performance with a header via a Daniel Ponturo cross.

Senior coach Stephen Von Tunk was out of action on the day due to a nagging injury, with last season’s premiership coach Jake Davies stepping into the role for the weekend.

Davies said he was impressed with his side’s performance, especially as their playstyle isn’t well-suited to a slow pitch.

“It was tough conditions for us, the field was very boggy, and as a result it was difficult to play our style,” Davies said.

“Stephen wants the group to emphasise control of possession and keeping the ball along the ground… it’s hard to do that when it’s slow underfoot.

“Fortunately, the ground was a bit nicer in our attacking end in the first half and we were able to make them pay with three goals.”

Davies credited Atodiresei for his performance in attack, adding that his side adapted well to working with a different style striker.

“Razvan isn’t quite as agile as Troy Jensen (the Panthers’ usual striker), but he’s got the smarts, he knows what spot to be in,” he said.

While the Panthers’ performance in their attacking third was impressive, Davies said he was equally pleased with their efforts down back.

“To have two consecutive clean sheets is a great effort, I remember finding it frustrating last season, even when we were winning games, that we’d always end up conceding a sloppy goal at some point,” he said.

“Three of our four players down back are different to last year’s side… it’s taken them a little while to gel but they’re doing really well back there.

“Lachie Heafield has been really good, as has Bill Petropoulos at full back, he’s good on ball and gives us a good release option.”

The Panthers are now set to face off against Warrnambool Rangers, a side which has proven to be one of the best in the competition this season.

“Since they bought their full club from Ballarat into this league, they’ve proven to be a really tough side, it’s going to be a good test of how far the side has come,” Davies said.

“They beat us 5-1 on our home field last time we played, if we want to compete for the flag again this year then we need to show some stronger performances against these good sides.”

Portland will reportedly hope to welcome back Von Tunk for the upcoming fixture, although how exactly he makes his return, be it through division two or via limited playing time, remains to be seen.